One for yourself, one for your dreams
by Gaia caecilia
Summary: Part 3 of the maia trilorgy (Wraths Recompense and TTSS). The third age has hit, the maia children have returned to Valinor after the battle on mount Orodruin. They leave behind thier families. Follow the final part of the story as they complete thier purpose in Middle Earth.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own anything except a lot of student debt which you are welcome to. This is only written for personal enjoyment and the enjoyment of my readers.

AN: This is the Third and final instalment in my maia series (Wrath's Recompense and then Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy). Unlike in TTSS, the maia children which were the main characters of TTSS will be referred to by their Quenya names in this story as they are now in Valinor though they will still be referred to by their Sindarin names depending on the point of view (characters from ME will use sindarin, the ones in Valinor will use Quenya). If you have forgotten, Meriliel is Arallë and Galadhion is Elanon. Fea is actually Quenya already, it is a shortening of her full name (Russëfea) that she used when she first met Elrond as she couldn't pronounce her full name because she was only a little child at the time. This version is going to stay since a) Gilgalad calls her that and b) it is a lot easier to type.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Part Three of the Maia Trilogy.

Chapter 1

Gilgalad blinked in surprise as he woke up. He hadn't expected the halls of Mandos to look like Imladris at all. The confused contemplations were ended by a tinkling laugh to his side and the elf king turned to see who was sitting there. It was Fea, though not as he'd ever seen his betrothed before.

Fea seemed rather more otherworldly than he remembered and the delicate elfin points to her ears had gone, though her glow had strengthened significantly. Many other things had changed, including the fact that her hair was more obviously red and there was stunning glow about her dark green eyes which was somewhat reminiscent of the Caliquendi. There were many other smaller changes about her that the brunette couldn't quite specify but there was no doubt that Fea was more beautiful than ever.

She smiled at him softly as he regarded her with wonder in his eyes.

"Welcome to Valinor Orenya, for real this time." Well, that sort of explained things, this was obviously Fea's home.

"How long have I been in Mandos?" He asked, somewhat hoarsely. Before answering, Fea busied herself with getting him water with which to wet his throat.

"You never went there, Elanon called Arallë and I and we brought you to Valinor and we, with our family's help, healed you." It took a moment for the shocked elf to comprehend what she had just told him. When it had sunk in a whole stream of questions fell from his mouth, only stopped by Fea laughing a bell like laugh.

Before she could answer any of them though, the door opened and about the last person he expected to see put his head round the door.

"Is he awake yet?" Asked Fingon quietly. Fea raised an eyebrow and looked pointedly at the bed. Fingon followed her gaze and grinned at his son. Ereinion didn't know why he was so surprised to see his father there; though considering he hadn't seen the older elf since he had been a tiny child it was impressive that he even recognised his father. All the same, his father seemed immensely pleased that he was awake. The dead giveaway was the way the elf bounced over to his son and hugged him enthusiastically, which resulted in a cry of pain.

"Fingon, be careful! He is far from recovered yet!" Fea snapped, sounding rather motherly. Fingon just grinned up at her boyishly and carefully let his son go. Fea just rolled his eyes. "I'll leave you to terrorise your poor son for the moments. Try not to put back his recovery too far."

Gilgalad watched her leave as his father turned to him and start an enthusiastic commentary, apparently delighted to have the opportunity to speak to his son for the first time in over 3000 years.

XXX

Thranduil returned to his realm is low spirits. Elrond had told him about Fea and Galadhion leaving for Valinor at Gilgalad's death. Most had assumed the maia had died in the fighting and Thranduil had been too busy to correct them but what depressed him most was that he strongly expected that his step mother had also gone which meant he only had Losmeril left to lean on as he rebuilt the Greenwood after the huge losses of the male population due to the war, presuming she hadn't gone with her mother as a half maia herself.

When he reached the palace, the sight that greeted him was bittersweet. Losmeril was still there but her mother had left. The strawberry blond princess was pale as she awaited him, an attendant waiting beside her with the crown of the Greenwood, woven of the plants of the season, on a cushion. When he reached her, he knelt down as she formally welcomed him back and crowned him with the living wreath.

The Greenwood had never really developed a coronation ceremony, and this little ceremony was about as close as it got. Thranduil couldn't help feeling that it should be his father here receiving the crown of the new season.

As soon as they were in private, Losmeril threw herself into his lap and sobbed out her heart as they shared the grief of both now being orphaned. Thranduil wasn't sure whether it was better that Meriliel had gone to Valinor and left her child to such grief or to have stayed and potentially risk her life to her grief for her late husband. He didn't know whether maia received new bodies as elves did and in that realisation he knew the answer. At least this way he knew Losmeril would see both her parents again some time.

XXX

Elrond wasn't really looking forward to returning to Imladris right now. It had always been a haven he co-ruled with Fea and it just wasn't going to be the same now she was gone. Imladris had very much been her brain child – a replica of sorts of her home in Valinor. When he reached the courtyard he and Fea had greeted so many guests in he was met by the remaining steward who presumably had taken over charge of Imladris now Fea had gone.

"My Lord! Well met." He called, looking worried. When Elrond reached him and took his hand in greeting, he leant forward. "My lord, I must report that the Lady Fea..."

Elrond did not let him finish.

"Is gone, I know. She and the other two maia, Galadhion and Meriliel left for Valinor magically with the High King's body just as Sauron was defeated. She is back home." It took some effort for his voice not to break on that note – he still thought of Imladris as her home. The realms of Lindon and Imladris had been her home for 3000 years.

The next day found him pacing through his hall restlessly trying to forget both the last seven years of horror and that his ward was no long around. Absently he noted she had done an excellent job of restoring the city to the state it had been before the armies of the west had mustered there. Apparently she had hated the warlike remembrances their muster had brought as much as he had.

Eventually he came to a distant hall with a balcony over the extensive gardens the Fea had loved so much. Elrond spent some time grasping the banister tightly as he examined the gardens which were just beginning to come back into bloom before turning round, trying to pull himself from his grief at the joint loss of Fea and his king. That loss was too painful to even brood on. As he examined the hall he noted that the wall was a rare example of a plainly plastered and whitewashed wall with no decorations whatsoever. Absently, he considered what it could be used for.

XXX

Arallë sat in the parlour of her parents' house, pale and staring. Though in the seven years after Oropher's death at Dagorlad she had to some degree got over the pain of loss of her husband but she had mostly done it by burying her grief.

Now though she was back in Valinor and had nothing to distract herself with and in the few weeks since leaving the Greenwood she was already missing Losmeril intensely. The remains of her family, particularly her daughter, were her main regret about leaving the dark wood that was intensely laden with memories of Oropher.

It didn't take long for her brother to turn up. Elanon was far better than many of the others round here, at least amongst the maia. He had been through the war, he had suffered, he had been the one to find the body of her beloved. He understood her grief at the loss better than just about anyone. Fea may have understood but she had pretty much exclusively spent her time looking after her own beloved who had come incredibly close to death. From the few times Arallë could bear to drop by, hoping to be distracted by the visits, she knew that he would be terribly scarred even with the combined efforts of the entire maia family to heal him.

Elanon was stroking her hair gently.

"Shall we try tonight for a dream vision? You really need to be able to get in touch with Losmeril – you're falling apart." Mutely, Arallë nodded.

"Yes, I suppose we should." There was silence for a few minutes. "I hope neither Losmeril nor Thranduil are angry at us leaving." Elanon held her a little tighter, hoping to comfort his sister, knowing she hurt incredibly. Mentally he cursed Sauron and his army for having caused so much pain. He did not doubt he was the only one in this position, hurting yet comforting the hurt at the same time. How many had lost everything to this thrice damned war?

The anger and pain probably engulfed the entire continent and everyone suffered for one megalomaniac fallen maia. The young maia (relatively) could not fathom such evil as to want to cause such pain to so many.

Though he recommended that they try to contact Thranduil and Losmeril, Elanon worried also. Since their leaving Arda, none of them had any new of what had happened in Arda, the last any of the three knew was that Sauron had been defeated and that all the armies were returning home – homes that were hopefully undamaged. Elanon was not sure he wanted to know how things were going, yet it was a nagging worry in the side of his mind.

XXX

Cirdan went pale as he read the first missive from the front that he had received since hearing the battle was won. That missive had contained no details, just that they had won.

This letter was infinitely worse. Elrond had written it and had tried to be delicate about the painful news but the peredhil had been grieving as well, not to mention having to deal with getting the combined armies of Lindon and Imladris back to their homes and doing what little they could do for the vast number of dead left over.

Cirdan sat down and watched the sea for some time before lifting the letter again and reading through it. Ancient as he was, Cirdan was used to grieving the loss of those he loved but this particular grief hurt very much. He had brought Ereinion Gilgalad up as his own son after King Fingon had sent the tiny child to him for protection. Silently the oldest elf in Arda sat and remembered the vibrant, bright child he had cared for and then the energetic young king he had guided throughout his life and mourned the loss to Arda that had befallen them when Sauron had laid his burning hand upon the elf's shoulder.

At least there wasn't a body left to be buried in that vile wasteland that was Mordor – his little prince deserved better than that.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Because i am a) hyper after having just coming back from having seen the Hobbit at the cinema (AMAZING) and b) because i got back to loads of lovely reviews.

Glory Bee - literally got your review whilest typing thing. Yes, did it this way both because i don't like him dieing and also i wanted them to have some peace and quiet to actually enjoy being married etc. I think you will probably like the next several chapters quite a bit.

Song in the Woods - I know it is a bit sad as of the moment but believe me it is soon to perk up!

Faye50free - Not quite all the maia children, Losmeril (granted she's half maia) is still there and do you really think that bunch wouldn't keep in touch with thier loved ones in middle earth? They do have a pre-made method of communication. I think you will like how i arrange for Thranduil to have all the support he needs though. Remembering, of course, that he will have to marry soon...

Chapter 2

Thranduil blinked in shock as he woke to the startlingly familiar garden he had first seen so many centuries ago. The blonde king looked round to see if anyone else was there with him, knowing that there must be at least one maia.

Beside him were Galion, Eama and most importantly, his little sister. Sitting under one of the larger trees were Galadhion and Meriliel, the latter of whom looked terrible despite the clear physical changes that had happened to both of them – changes that generally should have improved their appearance. Before he could note anything else, Losmeril had flung herself into her mother's arms and the two women sobbed together, Eama going over to hold her daughter and granddaughter in their grief.

Galadhion tossed his head sideways, indicating that the males should go aside a little.

"It took me a while to convince Arallë to come into a dream vision with you lot, she's been distraught since she arrived. I think she's been bottling up her grief at the loss of Oropher since he died and now she is somewhere where it doesn't matter she is letting it out finally. It doesn't help that she couldn't take Losmeril with her since, being half elfin, Losmeril has to sail." The young maia looked amused as Thranduil sighed in relief. "You were worried she would disappear in a flash of light?"

Thranduil glared the maia.

"What, like you did?" Galadhion conceded the point.

"Can you pass on a message to Elrond and Cirdan, with the condition that neither you nor they tell anyone else?" Both Galion and Thranduil agreed, looking a bit baffled.

"The three of us leaving was rather specifically timed because Fea would have killed me if I hadn't done something for Gilgalad when I could, thus causing her to have to postpone her wedding until he got out of Mandos' Halls. All the intervening time we have spent here, Fea and most of the rest of the family have spent healing him of some pretty awful injuries. That's why she isn't involved in the vision and we didn't bring either of the aforementioned elves along. Last I heard he had just woken up for the first time and was suffering the joy known as his father being over excited. I thought it might ease both elves hearts to know that Ereinion is alive and generally well - well recovering anyway."

Galion smiled at his son.

"We will pass on the message, Elrond was devastated at the loss of Ereinion and misses Fea terribly. I suspect our telerin kinsman is no better off." The brunet snorted.

"Get them wives – Elrond is a bit over due and Cirdan is _way_ overdue on the marriage stake." Both elves laughed.

"Who'd have them though?"

XXX

Cirdan sighed deeply as he saw the last ship of the day off. He supposed it wasn't surprising that after the carnage so many were leaving but it was rather depressing to watch the exodus of elves, most of whom were either widows or badly injured soldiers – though not infrequently the injury was to soul and mind rather than the body. The elves were a basically pure race and not designed to be able deal with the realities of war. It was virtually expected that they would leave to find peace in the undying lands. All the same the elfin realms would be seriously depleted.

The ancient lord went back to the palace which felt oddly empty without his young ward there – it had felt a bit empty when Ereinion had left for the muster at Imladris but now he knew the younger elf would not be coming back, it felt oh so much emptier. To his surprise, when he arrived, there was a messenger from the Greenwood waiting for him.

"Confidential message from King Thranduil, my Lord." The elf panted, clearly having only got there shortly before Cirdan. The telerin resisted the temptation to smile at the reference to 'King Thranduil', it would take some time to become accustomed to that. Then Cirdan shook his head – he remembered the hard toll it had taken on Ereinion to become king so suddenly. Thranduil would probably be growing up rather fast in the near future.

Nodding and taking the message before sending the elf off with a servant to be housed, Cirdan examined his mail. It was a thick letter and he was more than slightly surprised at the fact he could feel the delicate touch of magic which indicated that the letter had been sealed to an extent as to make_sure_ that only he could read it.

Absently Cirdan wondered what could justify such a strong protection before paling and speeding his pace as it occurred to him that it could be linked with the war just gone. The elfin realms could not afford to resume active hostilities right now.

Sitting down and opening the letter somewhere he was sure was private, the ancient elf opened the letter and as he read, sighed in relief. Finally, some good news!

XXX

Gilgalad sighed with relief as he was set down on the sitting room chair by his betrothed and his father. Fea didn't look that sympathetic to his pain and so the noldor voiced that observation. She just looked at him sardonically.

"You were the one who wanted to come down dear." She replied, smiling softly. Ereinion rolled his eyes.

"I would have gone stir crazy if I had stayed in that room any longer. Its a lovely room but seriously, it's all I've been looking at for the last few weeks." A soft laugh came from the doorway and they all turned round (with a quiet 'ow' sound from a certain invalid). Fingolfin was standing in the doorway with his younger brother just behind him, both looking amused.

"It is good to see you out of bed, Penneth, even if your carer clearly thinks you shouldn't be." The elder commented softly, smiling at him. Awkwardly, Ereinion greeted them. Though they had met many times in dreams, it was technically the first time he had met his grandfather and great uncle. Both elves proceeded to brush off formality and greet him fondly while Fea sat back and watched. She got the impressing it would take her beloved some time to get used to being in the undying lands since he had hardly been ready to come home. Fea suspected that her beloved was one of those elves who would never be truly ready to come to Valinor.

XXX

Elrond leant back in his chair in Imladris, glass of wine in hand, and for the first time since the start of the age, smiled properly. He looked at the letter held lightly in his hand and smiled again. Trust Fea to do something like that. He almost grinned as he remembered her parting words and suddenly understood them. Laughing lightly and shaking his head, Elrond took a sip of wine and wondered when Fea would get round to doing a dream vision.

Erestor and Glorfindel entered the room then and Elrond heard them pause as they noticed the expression on his face.

"Erm, Lord Elrond, are you alright?" Erestor asked carefully. Elrond shot the pair an amused glance which just worried the two further.

"Yes, Erestor, I'm fine – for once I have had good news. Unfortunately I'm not supposed to tell you. Well, I'm not supposed to tell you yet. I might, at some later date, be able to tell but not now. Anyway, wine anyone?" He asked, raising his glass. Both blonde and brunette stared at him incredulously.

"You are aware, Elrond, that that statement hardly reassures us, right?" Erestor asked. Elrond smiled up at the elf.

"Pardon me, I was a little distracted. Hopefully Fea will get round to a dream vision soon and include you two in it. The good news is to do with her and I am presently unsure as to whether I am allowed to pass on the information to you." Both elves relaxed somewhat at that piece of information.

"So you can still communicate with her?" Glorfindel asked, finally taking a seat.

"She can communicate with me. I have to wait for her to turn up in my dreams. Thranduil and Losmeril have had one dream vision with Meriliel and Galadhion – who have now both taken back their quenya names – which is how I know they are possible. Apparently Fea is rather distracted and the thing that is distracting her is the reason why she had yet to contact me. What that distraction is that I am not allowed to tell you." The two elves looked slightly baffled as they untangled that speech but nodded anyway.

XXX

When Elrond woke to a corridor in what appeared to be Imladris with Cirdan beside him he did a double take in surprise. When he spotted Riona smiling further down the corridor, he let out a sigh as understanding hit him. Cirdan still looked baffled however.

"Lord Cirdan, Welcome to Valinor." She smiled Cirdan still looked baffled. Elrond leant over to him.

"Dream vision, my friend." He muttered and the ancient elf's eyes lit up in understanding. Though Elrond was sure he had been in at least one dream vision before, Cirdan was hardly a regular visitor, which probably explained his confusion. Riona just smiled at them.

"Come, I do believe we have someone you want to see." Both elf lords had a good idea who she was talking about and quickly followed her down the corridor. When they entered the sitting room (one of several apparently, since Elrond had seen at least two others) there were several people there. Most prominently were Fea and Gilgalad sitting in the middle of the group who were all clearly related to the high king. From previous dream visions Elrond recognised Finarfin and Fingolfin and guessed the other elf was Fingon,

Elrond looked over to Cirdan and the two grinned at each other. Cirdan was one of the few people who had seen Fingon and Gilgalad together before and apparently he found the way the older elf was fussing round his son as amusing as Elrond did. Once they had got the silent laughter out of their system Riona coughed lightly to catch their attention.

Gilgalad whipped round, clearly glad for the distraction. When he saw Elrond and Cirdan there he bounce up and hugged both elves before sinking back into the chair with a wince. To Elrond's vast amusement Fea and Fingon both gave him identical recriminating looks that were layered with weary resignation. Fea obviously caught the amusement in his expression because she glared at him.

"Alright, oh great healer, how the hell am I supposed to stop him from doing stupid thing making his healing slower?" she snapped. His amuse expression turned to a full out grin at the frustrated tone.

"You're his betrothed, sit on him or something. I've never found a method short of brute force to keep him down when he was healing." The range of reactions almost made Elrond laugh. Fea just _looked_ at him and Fingon opened his mouth to say something but his father coughed lightly, eyebrow raised. The younger of the pair blushed and shut his mouth again. Elrond was certain he was not the only elf in the room highly curious about that exchange.


	3. Chapter 3

So sorry it took so long for me to post this. Hopefully the chapter should make up for my tardiness.

Chapter 3

Elrond smiled slightly as the golden _mellyn_ trees came into view. As his horse trotted forward, it occurred to the Peredhil that he had never before visited the golden wood. Fea had done those negotiations for him.

The party that greeted him in the centre of Caras Galadhon included many elves he had known from Meriliel's wedding and the last alliance but there were new faces there as well. Of all the elfin nations, the Golden Wood has suffered the largest exodus probably because, up till that point the country had not really seen war, though it did house a fair few refugees from the fall of Eregion. For the Silvan populace it was the first real taste of war and many were leaving. The places of those lords and ladies that had either died in the last alliance or had left were filled by new up and coming elves and these accounted for those that Elrond didn't recognise.

The relatively new king Amroth (honestly, were Cirdan and Elrond the only elves who could not be described a 'new' left in Arda?) greeted Elrond fondly before introducing Elrond to the more important of the lords in the welcoming party.

XXX

Gilgalad grinned mischievously at the image projected against the wall. Though he had long regained health he had found himself nearly as stir crazy as he had been while bed bound. It vastly amused Fëa that he had found that, without the huge workload of the high king, he had literally no past times to amuse himself with and after a while she had given in to his protestations of utter boredom and taught him the watching spell her parents used to watch their children while they were in Arda.

It was this that led to the position of him sitting comfortably in the green sitting room watching Elrond's first escapade in Lothlorien. Much to the Noldo's great amusement, Elrond was clearly oblivious to his little group of admirers stalking him. Absently Gilgalad wondered whether it was more his exotic (by lothlorien standards) looks or the fact that he was one of only two available elfin rulers to flirt with and Thranduil was neither around nor apparently all that interested. He was far too busy trying to get the Greenwood back on its feet to be looking for a wife.

His Elrond-watching was cut off by his betrothed barrelling onto his lap.

"Ereinion, am I allowed to commit mass slaughter of your female relatives or, failing that, lock them all up in some remote estate until after the wedding?" She whined. He blinked a couple of times in surprise before schooling his expression while he thought of an appropriate answer.

"Er, why do you wish to kill my female relatives Fëa?" He asked cautiously. She growled and buried her head in his shoulder before answering.

"Because they have decided that because Valinor has not seen a Royal Wedding since the rising of the sun and the moon that this one should be big enough to make up for the past lack, whether we want a huge wedding with half of the elves in Valinor or not. That is not even getting on to the bit where I'm the daughter of Eönwë and therefore an exalted personage in my own right. Can you believe one of them even suggested we have Manwë preside? What backwater have they been living in for the last age or so and can they go back there?" Mentally he thanked the aforementioned age worth of experience as king for having taught him the control that stopped him bursting out laughing.

"I'm guessing that telling them that this is our wedding and to mind their own business didn't work?"

"How did you guess?" After a few moments later his face split into a grin spread across his face.

"Fëa? How would your mother like to go back into service?" The redhead stared at him blankly.

"Service?" His smirk turned downright evil.

"Yes, as Valinor's most prestigious prankster." A dawning look spread across Fëa's face, followed by an almost feral look.

"What is the plan?"

"We get our fathers, not to mention my grandfather and great uncle while Riona runs distraction so you, Arallë and Tuima can plan in peace and I help out whichever section I'm needed on. I'll admit that I'm more than willing to be on your mother's team. Some of those relatives seriously remind me why I didn't particularly want to come to Valinor." Fëa snorted dryly and continued to snuggle up to her fiancé.

XXX

Thranduil smiled softly up at his sister as the tension drained from his system. It was a trick she'd learnt from her mother and one for which he was eternally greatful.

"You need a wife brother mine." Thranduil stared up at her.

"What?"

"You need a wife. You are desperately relying on me to help you through work that is probably not going to lessen greatly even after the country does recover and I am not always going to be around to help you. Secondly, you are not a young elf, you're closer to four thousand than three. The only reason you are still considered on the market at all is because you're a king. Thirdly, you need an heir. What if you die? What is Greenwood to do then? I have no intention of ruling this kingdom, though I will stand as regent in the unfortunate and hopefully unlikely event that you die before your children are old enough." Thranduil stared up at her.

"Why will you not always be here?" Losmeril's jaw tensed for a moment as she regarded her brother.

"Because my soul mate is in Valinor Thranduil. I will stay here until I am sure you are able to look after this place without me, including being safely married off to some nice girl who can rule beside you but there is only so long I am willing to wait to go to him." Thranduil blinked.

"How do you know where your soul mate is?" Losmeril raised an eyebrow and gestured to herself.

"Half maia? Does that ring any bells?" She snorted delicately at the dawning look on his face. "I'll let it be known you're looking for a wife then." Realisation of what his sister had just said hit as she walked out his office.

"Losmeril!" The door slammed in his face. Thranduil returned to his old habit of hitting his head against his desk, much to Galion's amusement.

XXX

Elrond was beginning to lose track of the assorted blond elleth he'd danced with so far when one was replaced with another so striking that Elrond knew that no matter how many blond elleth he danced with that he would not forget this one.

"There is something familiar about you my lady, have we met before?" The elleth gave a beautiful laugh like a cascading waterfall.

"No my lord Elrond, but you have met my parents..." She grinned at him as she was pulled off by another ellon, leaving Elrond with an armful of giggling female indistinguishable from most of the other he had now danced with.

Xxx

Fëa, Arallë, Élanon, Gilgalad, Riona, Finarfin, Fingon, Fingolfin, Daffyd, Eönwë and Tuima all burst out laughing at the look on Elrond's face.

The peredhil would probably be either mortified or incredibly angry to know that he was the primary source of amusement for the maia family and the surviving members of the house of Finwë but it didn't change the fact that Elrond-watching was a popular past time amongst that group. Eventually they group managed to get their breath back, though if any of them looked at the other, laughter would burst out again.

"Dare I ask what is so funny?" They turned to see Ingwë leaning against the doorframe, bemused expression on his face.

"Oh, we were Elrond-watching again. I think he might just have met his soul mate. It was rather amusing to see his face." The glowing elf nodded to the projected images.

"I think it might just be getting funnier." He stated with a grin.

XXX

He had finally caught up with the golden haired lady he had danced with for only a short time.

"My lady, I did not catch your name?" She grinned at him but as she opened her mouth to answer, her eyes strayed over Elrond's shoulder.

"Ada!"

Elrond turned to see who her father was since she had said he knew her parents. Upon seeing the figure standing behind him Elrond had to snap his jaw shut at the sight of the tall silver haired lord. The former prince of Doriath raised an eyebrow in amusement at the look on the young elf's face before turning to the elleth.

"Ah, there you are my dear, I see you have already met Lord Elrond, I was going to introduce you." Celeborn turned to the peredhil lord.

"Lord Elrond, may I introduce my daughter, Celebrian?"

Elronf took the lady's hand and, bowing low, kissed her fingertips.

"Well met my lady. It is a delight to be in your presence."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The Wedding of Russafëa and Ereinion Gilgalad of the house of Finwë was the event of the season so to speak. The female relatives had won out on the sheer attendance but that was the only place they had won, they had only won there because the Valar announced their intention to show up. Somehow it didn't seem right to throw a small family only wedding with the Valar. Ingwë was presiding since both Fea and Ereinion roundly refused to even think of asking the king of the Valar (never mind that her father was technically aligned with Manwë) to preside.

As with Riona's wedding, they incorporated many of the traditions from Riona and Daffyd's homeland to the traditional Noldorin ceremony favoured in Valinor.

Fea wore a white gown made of multiple layers of silk gossamer that clung to her figure and flowed off her hips in floaty waves. Resting on her hips was a satin belt that was tied round a silver clasp and was embroidered with silver stars similar to the ones on Ereinion's armour crest. Contrary to the somewhat conservative views of the various interfering matrons, the dress was nearly off the shoulders with a wide oval neckline than dipped quite low flashing Fea's shoulders and a certain amount of chest as well as back. In the time honoured tradition, the sleeves were wide bell shapes that dropped to the floor. There were wide bands of pastel blue fabric embroidered with silver thread and with real sapphire beading round the neckline, hem and cuffs.

Fea was on the arm of her father while being attended by her mother, Tuima and Arallë, all four of whom were in clothing of the same pale blue as the bands of embroidery. The three maia each wore simple scoop necked silk gowns with bands of white silk embroidered with silver stars round the neckline, hem and cuffs and a matching white belt. Eönwë however, wore pastel blue robes, once again with bands of white, silver star embroidered silk, round the hem and neckline over pure white tunic and hose.

Ereinion and his party however, were clad primarily in the dark blue of his house. With the exception of the bride groom, the members of his party (Finafin, Fingolfin and Fingon) wore dark blue robes of fine silk dupion over hose and tunic of a slightly lighter shade of blue embroidered in silver with pearl beading.

Ereinion however wore a robe of pure silver with embroidery in dark blue with sapphires and pearl over a navy blue tunic and pearl grey hose, both embroidered in silver and bejewelled.

They were holding the ceremony in what was essentially a very large field that had a small tor in the middle allowing most of the population of Valinor it seemed to watch the ceremony of the millennium.

Ingwë was, Fëa noticed, in his white and gold clothing, standing at the precise centre of the tor with Ereinion and his party already there on one side of the elf and watching her proceed across and up to him as most of the major elfin bards in Valinor played Mendelssohn's Wedding March. Absently she wondered how much time and effort her mother had put into first arranging it round the complete lack of church organ and brass section in elfin music and then teaching the elfin bards the piece. She could imagine many a strop from the 'master bards', many of whom had a very high opinion of themselves. As she reached the tor and began the climb upwards (made easier by the recently put in steps) the music moved from the otherworldly wedding march to the traditional elfin hymn that invoked Eru's blessing upon the union. As she reached the top, took her place and turned to face her beloved, the hymn swelled to an ethereal crescendo and then cut off leaving the echoes of the theme in every attendee's ears.

Into the echoes of the wedding hymn Ingwë declaimed the opening lines of the ceremony, asking of Fingon and Eönwë who was brought before him and the reason why they had been brought before him. First the maia lord, then Fingon announced their children with the fullest form of introduction possible then stated that they had been presented to fulfil the terms of their betrothal agreement. As the saintly looking king and their parents went through several boring questions ('who invented this bit of the ceremony anyway, it was more characteristic of human nobility to obsess over the details of betrothal agreements and suchlike', thought Fëa as she allowed her mind to wander).

She was brought back to the ceremony when her father took her hand and placed it in Ereinion's and Ingwë bound their hands together loosely with a white silk ribbon.

"Do you both, who have been brought before me as a betrothed couple, swear to bind within the eyes of Eru and the Lords and Lady Valar as a married couple, equal and complimentary in all things to love and support each other in all things?" Both responded in the affirmative (like they would do anything else) while Fëa absently thought that she'd rather Eru and the Valar were not watching at the _actual_ binding since that was rather private.

"Thus I present you before the Eru, the Valar, the maia and elves, husband and wife, the Lord Ereinion Gilgalad of the House of Finwë and the Lady Fea of the House of Eönwë!"

Moments later the air filled with a sense of awesome presence that Fëa had only felt once before, and that time in anger. This time Eru's presence was far from angry, it seemed more in the direction of delighted in fact.

Those standing on the tor sunk to the ground in deep bows of reverence and soon the rest of those in attendance followed suit.

"I seen my gift to your mother and to Daffyd upon the day of your parents binding was well given and has come into fruition. I bless this union with my favour, both for the continuation of a line much beloved to me and for the production of truly great people as my previous blessing did provide my world with." Eru's presence swelled then disappeared.

As they rose Ereinion looked at his bride and grinned.

"Why do I get this impression he wants us to have children?" He muttered. Fëa grinned back.

"Absolutely no idea, really."

XXX

Fëa pulled Elrond into a dance as couples spun around them.

"Elrond! So glad you could come to the party at least." She laughed. The dark haired elf laughed looking younger than he had in years.

"It is official, Irmö is by far my favourite of the Valar – you have no idea how sad I was to miss your wedding." She grinned up at the elf who had been her guardian for so long.

"I have to admit, this has to be one of the best wedding gifts we've been given – if I was inclined to align myself with one of the Vala, it would be Irmö." Elrond grinned and spun her through several more steps before passing her off to Cirdan.

They spent several hours dancing with the great and the good of both Valinor and Arda before Fëa and Ereinion were able to escape.

The dark haired elf was grinning insanely as he shut the door to the bower his father had built them for when they wanted to escape their families to somewhere private. He pulled her into a deep kiss.

"We have waited too long for this my love." Fëa smiled at him adoringly and kissed him again. Ereinion's smile turned slightly wicked. "What say you to going and trying to fulfil Eru's command?"

They spent the next several minutes kissing before Fëa responded.

"I say that is an excellent idea my love."

XXX

Elrond, Finarfin and a few others of those who had been on either end of the dream visions sat at one edge of the clearing watching the couples dance, most specifically, Ingwë and Losmeril who were at the centre of the dance floor looking like they were utterly unaware of anyone around them.

Arallë grinned at them from her place curled up against her brother.

"They look sweet together. I wonder when they got so close though, they haven't spent all that much time round each other." Fingolfin laughed softly.

"No idea, but I think I've worked out who she was referring to when she said her soul mate is in Valinor." Arallë hummed agreement.

Fingon then came and plonked himself down beside them, wearing a wicked grin.

"What's got you so amused?" The elf grinned and nodded in the direction of the dancers.

"Oh, I wanted to see what they would do." He received baffled looks for the cryptic comment just as the music changed to the lover's dance, the same music Oropher had announced his relationship to Arallë to several centuries earlier. Several sets of eyes widened as neither Losmeril nor Ingwë missed a beat but carried on dancing. After several minutes of gaping, Daffyd regained his wits.

"Since Oropher is presently indisposed then I guess I better go have a talk with our esteemed high king then?" He asked dryly.

They sat there observed the couple for a few minutes before someone spoke again.

"On related notes Elrond," The Peredhil frowned at Finarfin as the older elf addressed him, somewhat confused. "I hear that you are interested in my granddaughter..."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Thranduil glared up at his sister from his position on the sofa as she waltzed into his sitting room, smiling serenely.

"Did you have to announce that I am looking for a wife? Every elleth who fancies herself as queen has been throwing herself at me thinking I couldn't possibly resist them, never mind that she is exactly the same as the other few hundred who have just thrown themselves at me. I swear this is more likely to put me off elleth for life than get me safely married off."

Losmeril snorted with laughter.

"They're not that bad Thranduil, you are exaggerating." The older sibling glared up at his sister.

"You're not the one they are throwing themselves at." He grumbled. Losmeril sent him a beatific smile.

"Ah, yes, but that is because I have the sense to be already taken." Thranduil glared at her.

"Ha ha ha ha. Very funny. Ingwë is just lucky that neither father no I can go talk to him about that. I don't care that he is my high king, you are my baby sister." Losmeril snorted at her brother.

"If it makes you feel better Grandfather and Uncle Galadhion have already done that, it is not like you and father are my only overprotective male relatives. Apparently they threatened him with not just their wrath but that of Uncle Eönwë as well if he even thinks of messing me around." Thranduil snorted, smile now dancing round his mouth.

"I love having maia relatives. Being able to threaten my sister's suitors with the head of the army of the Valar has a certain amount of satisfaction value to it." Losmeril snorted with laughter.

Males!

XXX

He was floating in stuff it almost felt. It was peculiar to be without a body.

He remembered the shock of being stabbed, the pain never really hit, he was dead before the shock and adrenalin had worn off enough to feel pain. Then he was in this dark place, a bodiless spirit floating round aimlessly.

He wasn't the only one here, there were many other spirits. Some of them were clearly in pain, many he recognised from the army he had been a leader of. He tried to comfort those pained souls he recognised. How many of them had died against Sauron? Too many of them he saw.

All the while he had the sense of more he had to do here.

What was it?

XXX

Elrond smiled at the letter in his hand and then out right grinned at the one on the table next to it.

The one in his hand was from Celebrian and the other from her father. The lady had sent a request to come visit Imladris since she had heard it was so lovely. The other letter was from Celeborn, somewhat grudgingly agreeing with his daughters request and top filled with veiled threats about what would happen if his daughter was treated anything short of perfectly. Absently Elrond wondered what it was about sindars and being overly protective of their daughters.

Still grinning and speculating on the protective paternal instincts of Sindars, Elrond wrote a reply to both of them and began planning how he could use this opportunity to his advantage. Maybe if he planned well enough then he might be able to get her to agree to marry him before she went home. The trick was getting her to stay long enough to finish being courted, preferably without Celeborn finding out what Elrond was up to.

XXX

Erestor looked at Glorfindel as they carefully moved away from Elrond's office so as to make sure he didn't hear them. Once they were a safe distance away from their lord the younger elf finally had to ask the obvious question.

"What the hell do you think has got to him? I haven't seen him that happy since Fëa left and not so mischievous since long before." Glorfindel grinned at him.

"Well from what I've heard from my king, who is swiftly getting the Lady Riona's attitude to dream visions, what has got to him may well be a lady." Erestor snorted with laughter.

"I don't think Ingwë needed any corrupting from the Lady Maia, Glorfindel, not if his vocabulary of swearwords is anything to go by." The dark haired elf frowned. "Do you know who the lucky lady is? Not to mention how your king knows about her."

Glorfindel laughed.

"The lucky lady would be the lady Celebrain, daughter of Celeborn and Galadriel. As for how Ingwë knows well, I think Finarfin, Riona and Gilgalad have something to do with that." Erestor snorted.

"And to think that we thought we would miss them now they are not here. " Glorfindel snorted with laughter.

"Indeed."

XXX

Thranduil never though he would see the day when he would have to sneak through his own palace, but, courtesy of his sister, that day had arrived. The blond king didn't bother glaring at the stable hands who were snickering quietly at his muttered monologue about 'interfering sisters' and 'insane elleth'. Thankfully one of the older stable hands silently prepared a horse for him. Just as Thranduil was mounting the elf leant forward.

"If it pleases you your majesty, my daughter is distracting your admirers." He grinned at the king. "Don't worry, she is married." Thranduil grinned back at the elf.

"You and your daughter have my thanks." Thranduil grinned at the elf as the horse left the stable at high speed.

XXX

Ingwë stood beside the arched windows of his private sitting room and grinned at his beloved as she appeared and walked across the room to him. He reached out his arms to hold her and silently relished the feeling of the young elleth curling up to his chest. They just stood there enjoying each other's presence for some time before either spoke.

"You know, it was rather evil of you to let know generally that Thranduil was on the market." Ingwë murmured. Losmeril made a little noise and nuzzled his chest.

"Doesn't change the fact that he needs a wife if I'm going to leave for Valinor and I have no intention of waiting forever for him to get round to marrying before coming here. It is only because my brother needs me that I have waited at all. Dream visions are not the same as actually being somewhere and I cannot marry you via a dream." Ingwë laughed.

"True, though I could wait for you forever as long as I knew I would have you in the end, my love." He grinned at the happy little noise she made into his chest at that pronouncement. "Are you not worried that he will eventually just marry someone he half likes just to get some peace from all these shallow little things that are throwing themselves at him? I thought it would be a genuine worry that he might condemn himself to a loveless marriage just to either get rid of them or free you to go to Valinor."

The blond elf frowned down at his beloved as she giggled against his chest.

"That is not a problem. His soul mate is there, nearby, he only has to find her. This wild goose chase serves to make sure he finds her sooner rather than later. Within the next day or so in fact, methinks. I doubt that he will work it out just yet though." Ingwë pulled back slightly and raised an eyebrow at her in confusion.

Losmeril just grinned up at the king with a wicked twinkle in her eye.

"Foresight is such a wonderful thing, isn't it?" She comment mischeviously.


	6. Chapter 6

AN: Sorry i haven't replied to reviews, i have flu (urg). Though one question, why 'poor Elrond'? Its going okay for him, Thranduil's the one i feel sorry for.

Chapter 6

Elrond moved to Lady Celebrian's horse and helped the lady down from the delicate grey palfrey.

"Well met my lady, welcome to Imladris." He greeted, smiling at her. Much to his pleasure she smiled back at him.

"Well met indeed, Lord Elrond. It is good to be back in Eriador after so long. I have missed the area." Elrond had to resist grinning in pleasure that she apparently liked the region. He had forgotten that she had spent most of her childhood in Eregion.

As he guided he to her quarters he quietly pointed out notable features of his realm, Celebrian showing genuine delight at the imparted information.

"You have a beautiful realm my lord. Ada said so when I asked but he does not like to talk of it because it reminds him of the fall of Eregion. You have done a wonderful job with this place." Elrond smiled at her gently.

"It was a terrible time and it was at first very painful for Fëa and I to return here on the high king's orders but there was a great sense of accomplishment with the building of our haven, especially since Fëa deliberately made it to be much like her parent's home in Valinor."

"Really? Mother is about as inclined to talk about Valinor as Ada is the fall of Doriath, that is to say not at all. I wish I had met the Lady Fëa while she was here. I saw her in passing while she was in Lothlorien but never really had much opportunity to talk. She sounds like a lady I would like." Elrond smiled affectionately.

"Fëa is an unusual character, though one suspects you will not have to wait as long as you think to meet the lady." Celebrian frowned at him curiously. "Let us just say that she and her family are not noted for obeying the rules of the Valar when it comes to communication between Valinor and Arda."

"You are not making much sense my lord, rather you are being overly cryptic." Elrond just grinned at her.

"It is a surprise I think I will keep until you experience what I am talking about first hand, though I will say it was vastly entertaining to see the look on your parents faces when they were introduced to that secret. Your mother was about to flay someone, I don't think I have ever seen her so obviously angry before or after." Celebrian gave him a baffled look.

"Pardon my lord? My mother doesn't do angry." Elrond laughed.

"Oh she does, just not very often." Celbrian looked about to respond when Elrond opened a door and bowed her in. "Your quarters, my lady."

XXX

Elrond grinned as he saw Celebrian looking round the garden in bafflement.

"Lord Elrond, were are we? I remember going to sleep then..." She trailed off as shouts were heard soon followed by a dark haired blurr being chased into the clearing quickly followed by two more who tackled the first to the floor where a wrestling match ensued that eventually ended in all three participant laughing in a pile on the floor.

"If you will pardon my husband and cousins Lady Celebrian, they are presently having certain issues with maturity." Both Elrond and Celebrian turned to the edge of the clearing where Fëa stood next to her mother, arms crossed, eyebrow raised and foot tapping. When Elrond turned back to the pile he could indeed see that the three people on the pile were Ereinion underneath both Daffyd and Elanon, both of whom were very wet. "By the way, Welcome to Valinor, Lady Celebrian."

Celebrian went pale as she whipped round to stare at Riona in shock.

"Pardon?" The slightly insane maia grinned wickedly.

"Well that was a more peaceful reaction than her mother's when we brought her here..." More than one person snorted with laughter. In the interest of his love life, Elrond decided to explain.

"We are in a dream vision, lady. Our bodies are still in Imladris but one of the maia have brought our minds here while our bodies rest so we can communicate. The first time we brought your parents here your mother didn't realise she wasn't really in Valinor and thought that your grandfather had found a way to transport her back to Valinor without her consent. If it weren't for the presence of King Ingwë I think Finarfin might well have been splayed with your mother's tongue. It was highly amusing."

Celebrian was grinning now.

"Do you have any other amusing stories of my mother?" She asked, eyes twinkling.

"No but Finarfin does and since he's just about to arrive, you can ask him." Much to the vast amusement of more than one person, Celebrian's face lit up and she rubbed her hands together. Once they had introduced her to her grandfather, Fëa turned to Elrond.

"You have good taste, I like her." The two shared a grin.

XXX

He moved across the dark hall, through the morass of bodiless elfin spirits, for once not seeing anyone he knew amongst the spirits. The hall was so big though, it wasn't really that had to find a place with no-ne he knew.

As he floated around something caught his attention, a near imperceptible pull, almost a bond or maybe a former one.

Eventually he was able to trace the pull and the closer he got the stronger the pull got.

It was only when he reached his destination, that of another spirit, that he recognised the type of bond and that was only because he recognised the spirit.

For some time (though he had no idea how long, time was immaterial in this dark place) he stared at the spirit that was curled up in a corner, one of the dimmest he had seen within these halls.

Finally, after much staring and contemplating, he addressed the spirit.

"Faelwen!"

XXX

Thranduil galloped through the countryside of his homeland until the horse began to get winded from the exertion. Then he stopped the beast and walked beside it for some time before sitting down on a log and closed his eyes, relishing the silence and peace.

"My lord?" His eyes snapped open sometime later as he was addressed. In front of him was a dark haired sylvan elleth holding a carved wood cup of something warm in her hands. She smiled and offered the mug to him. "You look like you could use this."

Still blinking in surprise Thranduil accepted the mug, sniffed the content and delicately took a sip. To his surprise it was a rich, very sweet drink with both fruity and spicy flavours. The drink was surprisingly relaxing.

"When you are done, just drop off the mug over there." She pointed to a talan not twenty feet away and up in the tree slightly. Thranduil blushed slightly at realising that he hadn't even noticed a dwelling nearby. The elleth laughed at the look on his face and walked off.

Thranduil watched her curiously as she climbed up to the tree dwelling surprisingly agilely and gracefully considering she was in a dress. She wore very simple peasant clothing with a high neckline and tight practical sleeves. The dress itself was a shade of green a few shades lighter than the forest and looked to be homespun wool. The simplicity though did nothing to hide the fact that she was beautiful, even by the standards Thranduil was used to seeing from his step-mother, sister and their cousin to name but a few of the beauties that surrounded the King.

When he had finished the mug he rose and followed the elleth's path to her talan where he found he sitting on a rough stall made from a chunk of log that nobody had bothered to refine, spinning wool carefully.

"Thank you lady, it was much appreciated." She smiled gently at him.

"You looked like you needed some peace and quiet and privacy, not to mention some stress relief. " He grinned and thanked her again. "There is nothing to thank me for, sir, you are welcome back whenever you need somewhere quiet and away from everything."

"That is an offer I may well take you up on, especially if my sister carries on being a pain." The elleth laughed. Thranduil flushed slightly as he realised he had no idea where he was. "Can you point me in the direction of the palace? I just realised I can't remember where I was riding." He admitted with a flush.

The elleth laughed at him and gave him directions as he mounted up. Just as he was leaving he turned back to the lady.

"Lady! I did not catch your name!" He called backed to her. She laughed again.

"Erywen!" she called back as the horse carried him away from her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Erywen – forest (Ery from _Eryn_ meaning (as any self respecting Tolkein geek should know) forest and wen from the root _gwen _meaning maiden) maiden in sindarin. I would have found a sylvan name for her but I only have a sindarin name generator and a quenya one.


	7. Chapter 7

Here it is (finally).

On unrelated notes, its not a good idea to stay in a Saxon Longhall for 2 days in sub zero temperatures that come with snow. The longhall isn't even nearly sealed from the outside and with only six of us overnighting in there, once the fire went out (even with a several foot long fire it was bloody cold) there wasn't enough body heat to keep anyone warm. Even with a sleeping bag, a liner, 3 layers (jeans & t-shirt, linen saxon dress, wool saxon dress) and 2 blankets i woke up freezing.

On the other hand, despite having my posterior froze off, we had immense fun playing in our longhall and we even had an easter egg hunt round the longhall! I freely admit to having taken part in this. On saturday, after our feast we also had several hours of period entertainment inc a reading from Beowulf, icelandic poetry readings, a play about Thor, a story telling (which was basically starwars done Norman style - absolutely hilarious) and several hours of songs from our bard (duly sung along to). so despitte terrible weather, we did have lots of good re-enactor shaped fun.

If any of you like the idea of Saxon/Norman/Viking re-enactment, we be Regia Anglorum and are active in both the UK and USA (we exported it when american student who had joined went homee after thier degrees).

Anyway... Off back to the true topic of this post, The Story

Chapter 7

Much to his surprise Losmeril did make a single comment on his disappearance to that afternoon, though he noted that the evening after his disappearance that she seemed unfailingly amused.

Even more to his surprise, none of his councillors, many of whom were left over from his parent's era, commented either, though he did receive several reproachful or disapproving looks over the next few days.

Despite both being highly curious and rather determined to find out what was going on, no one seemed even slightly willing to talk, even Galion, who just smiled cryptically whenever Thranduil asked.

XXX

Cirdan looked round at the other elves whose conciousnesses had been brought from Arda and absently wondered what was special enough to justify a gathering as large as this. The only times he had seen anything like this was for war related topics. Since there didn't seem to be any issue with that right now he had to wonder.

It did not take long for the assorted members of the maia family to arrive. All seemed notably happy so it for once looked to be good news.

Ereinion and Fëa were the last in and the way they seemed attached at the hip, combined with the way the auburn hair maia glowed with life gave the ancient elf an idea and suddenly his face split into a grin. Ereinion saw the look on his face and both grinned and rolled his eyes at the same time.

A grinning Thranduil (who had also obviously worked it out) was the first to speak.

"So what is the grand announcement then? This is obviously not a social dream vision." More than one person snorted with laughter at the idea of a 'social' dream vision. The couple looked at each other.

"Oh," Fëa started innocently, "We just thought you lot might be interested in knowing that I'm pregnant."

There was a moment of absolute silence followed by large amounts of noise as the assembled elves an maia joyously came forth to congratulate the happy couple. It was obvious that the immediate family already knew but the more extended family and the Arda bound group it was something new to celebrate.

While most of the people there were fussing round the happy couple Cirdan pulled Elrond and Thranduil aside.

"There will be another ship of elves crossing to Valinor in a couple of months, I think they will be more than willing to take the traditional birth gifts for them if you two want to send them something. Just thought you would like to know." Both elves grinned.

"That sounds perfect." Thranduil commented. "The trick is working out what to get them."

Elrond grinned at them mischeviously.

"Considering who the parents are one would have thought a pair of reigns and a copy of the rulebook might be in order." He suggested wickedly. Both Cirdan and Elrond snorted with laughter.

"What, the reigns to control the little monster and the rule book to introduce them to the concept since it's not like their parents will be doing so?"

XXX

Elrond smiled slightly as he finished the letter with a flourish before looking up at who had entered his office. Much to his surprise Celebrian was perched on the other side of his desk.

"Celebrian! What can I do for you?" In the time she had spent in Imladris the two had become far less formal with each other and far more friendly, much to Elrond's delight.

"I was just wondering if you had any idea's for baby gifts for Fëa and the high king. I was also wondering if you could shed light on why my parents and I were invited along to the announcement, it is not like either of us were particularly close to either half of the couple."

Elrond smiled at her.

"I think it was mostly the fact that, like most expecting parents, especially as this is their first child, they are rather proud and desired to let _everyone_ know of their joy. There is also the fact that you are Ereinion's second cousin and thus technically his relative, even if you did not know him well." She smiled at him as he offered her some of the papers on his desk. "As for baby gifts, here are my plans."

She looked at them then grinned wickedly.

"You have an evil sense of humour, you know that?" The peredhil grinned at her.

"Yup, though in all fairness, this is payback for having to put up with the both of them for the last age or so." She giggled wickedly at him before rising.

"I think my gift will be rather less personal, if probably more appreciated." She leant down and pecked a kiss on to Elrond's cheek before waltzing out of the room.

Slowly Elrond lifted his hand to the spot on his cheek where she had kissed him. He smiled gently. It appeared to be time to start courting her properly. This was going to be fun.

XXX

"I'm assuming you have decided to visit me again rather than having got roundly lost again?" Erywen said, smiling at Thranduil. He grinned back at her and handed her the package in his hands. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"I was always taught that it was polite to bring a gift to your host and this is the second time I have been your guest." She carried on looking at him for a moment and then smiled at him, almost seeming surprised by this pronouncement.

"You want a drink?" She asked.

"Please." Thranduil watched as she turned and went over to a fire box via wicker basket where she retrieved to carve wooden mug like the one she had offered him the previous time he had been here and a couple of pouches from which she took a couple of leaves and what looked like dried flowers. She also poured in a little honey from a pot in the next door crate. At the firebox she ladled in some water from the smaller of the two cauldrons on the fire into the mugs. Using what was clearly a home carved wooden spoon, she stirred the brew before handing one of the mugs to Thranduil and indicated that he should sit on one of the two stalls round the single table in the room.

Once they were seated, Erywen opened the gift curiously to find several pastries and a box of sweetmeats. She looked up at Thranduil curiously.

"I didn't know what to give you so I went for food. Those are some of my favourites and it helps to have the advantages of a large kitchen to make those so I thought you would be more likely to appreciate them."

"Thank you, I have never tried these before, or anything like it actually." She smiled sardonically at his surprised expression. "I live here alone and my parents lived in similar style. If it can't be cooked on that," she gestured to the firebox; "then I haven't tried it before."

Thranduil stared at her in surprise. Somehow, it hadn't occurred to him that there might be elves who had never had the advantage of ovens and other such things he took for granted.

"So I take it you would not object if I were to bring food from my kitchen's ovens every time I visit?" She laughed.

"Goodness no, especially considering that, round here at least, it is not uncommon for the food supply to be precarious to say the least. I mostly live off what I can hunt and forage." The shocked look on Thranduil's face seemed to amuse her. "Not all of us are accustomed to royal courts and conspicuous wastage, my lord."

Thranduil flushed slightly.

"I know that, it's just that I generally assumed that the lifestyle of my squire was about the level that normal people lived at." She raised an eyebrow again.

"You have actually seen how you squire lived? That's more down to arda than most nobles I've heard about." He shrugged.

"He had cute children." Erywen snorted with laughter. "I liked to play with them." The second comment earned him a full blown laugh.

"Oh, that is sweet, an ellon that likes children!" Thranduil gave her an indignant look.

"Sweet?" She nodded, eyes still dancing with laughter.

"Yes, sweet. So do you have any children, or plans for them then?"

"Considering what I'm hiding here from is my sister trying to set me up for marriage?" Erywen nodded.

"Ah, I'll take that as a no then. Pity really, your an attractive elf, I suspect you would make some elleth a very good husband some day, not to mention a very good father. Why is you sister trying to set you up?" The eye roll was epic this time.

"Because she thinks I need an elleth to look after me and wants to leave for Valinor but won't do so until she is sure that I am 'properly looked after' and 'safely married off'" Erywen burst out laughing again.

"She may have a point there, I would definitely think twice at leaving unattended Ellyn around, you never know what they might do!" Thranduil gave her an offended look.

"Oi!" Erywen was still laughing as she responded.

"Look at king Oropher, compare his behaviour before and after he married the lady maia and tell me that he was not vastly improved by female supervision." Thranduil snorted with laughter.

"As someone who had to deal with him all through his betrothal period when Meriliel was in Imladris, I have to admit you have a point there." There was a slight flicker in her expression at the comment but Thranduil wrote it off as his imagination as he face quickly went back to the amused expression she had been wearing.

XXX

Glorfindel gave Erestor an amused look as they walked into the sitting room to find Elrond and Celebrian sitting together on a couch, flicking through a book of some sort and laughing heartily.

"Dare I ask what is so funny?" The blond asked. The laughing pair on the sofa looked up at them.

"Oh, we were just going through Fëa and Ereinion's baby present." They received two perplexed looks.

"And what is so hysterical about that?" Erestor ventured after a moment. Elrond grinned wickedly and turned the book to show them what its content was. Both elves snorted with laughter.

"You are cruel, you know that?" Erestor commented after several minute of looking through the book. Elrond just grinned at them.

"As they say, grandchildren are a parent's revenge on their children. I might not be her parent but I did bring her up. Cirdan is doing one for Ereinion as well." He received two half shocked, half amused expressions. Eventually Glorfindel broke the pregnant pause that pronouncement had resulted in.

"Just be glad that you two are across the sea from them." Elrond laughed outright.

"Oh, we are."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

With spectacular bad timing, Fëa went into labour about a mile away from the Eönwë and Riona's house and right in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully she had her husband with her but since he had no experience of birthing a child and could not move her more than a short distance, that wasn't a great deal of help.

With even more spectacularly bad luck, it was not far into labour that her waters broke. With some effort they managed to move near the stream that eventually ran through her parents garden and a small clearing that usually she and Ereinion would have marked down as a good place for a picnic.

It was more than an hour before they were found and by that time, there was no hope for moving Fëa away from the spot she was at.

Upon arriving in the clearing, Riona took one look at the two of them and knelt down by her daughter.

"I'll look after her, you run back for help. Arallë is there so there is someone who knows what's needed around." Riona dismissed Ereinion as she went to work looking after her daughter. Glad that someone who knew what they were doing had taken charge, he kissed his wife's forehead and then sprinted off as fast as his legs could carry him.

Sometime later he, Arallë and Tuima galloped back into the clearing with a range of things a range of things which would apparently be useful.

Much to his surprise, instead of being shoed away while the ladies did whatever it was women did at births, Riona ordered him to sit and support his wife, who by now was sprouting profanities and stating rather emphatically that her husband was not touching her ever again. If he hadn't been rather occupied, the aforementioned elf might have been worried but at that particular moment of time he was more interested in the continued health of his wife and child.

Ereinion was not sure how long it took for Riona to be holding his child in her arms. Just as he was about to sigh in relief that it was over, Fëa cried out in a strangled voice.

"Not done yet, 'nother one to come." Riona snorted at the shocked look on Ereinion before turning to the other two maia.

"You two carry on looking after her, I'll clean this one." Tuima nodded and went back to tending Fëa while Ereinion tried to get over his shock.

It didn't take long for the second one to come thankfully and not much longer after that for them to be able to finally get back to the House of Eönwë where they were met by a number of frantic males. With an impressive eye roll, Riona snapped orders to them, getting her husband to carry their daughters to her bedroom and sending the various other males off to get a number of necessities.

If they hadn't been so worried, and in Ereinion's case, shocked, it would have been funny to see the entirety of the male members of the house of Finwë and two high ranking maia panicking and running around (to quote Riona) like 'blue arse flies'.

Once Fëa was safely ensconced in her bed and everything was dealt with Riona led Ereinion to the large cot in the corner of the room.

"May I present to you your daughters my lord?" She smiled gently at him as he just stared at the two auburn haired babies adoringly. "Do you wish to hold them?"

Without taking his eyes of his children, he nodded. Riona smiled gently and gently picked up one of the sleeping children.

"This is your first born, my lord." He gently took the child and kissed her forehead then looked at her adoringly for some time.

"Well met Narinyë, my beautiful one." When he looked up Riona was holding the other little girl who he exchanged for Narinyë. Once again he kissed her forehead and contemplated before bestowing his name upon the child.

"And well met to you to, Anna." He looked curiously at Riona as she started slightly.

"Where did you get that name from" She asked quietly.

"It means gift, perfect for my unexpected little gift, I think." Riona smiled almost wistfully at him. "Why do you ask?"

"It is also a name in my world; it was my mother's name as well." He stared at her in surprise and she smiled a gentle, thankful smile the like of which he hadn't seen since the War of Wrath when he, Finarfin and couple of other generals had made Daffyd some wooden animals to play with. "Thank you."

She gently place Narinyë down in the cot and left, leaving a surprised elfin king behind her.

XXX

Within a week just about every elf in Valinor had come to visit Fëa and her children it seemed. Throughout that time she had been near bedbound though well attended by her husband, who never left her side, and the three maia females in her family.

Once she had recovered from the stressful birth they scheduled a dream vision which, with the help of Irmö, allowed the Arda bound members of their extended family to fuss the children as much those in Valinor.

Celebrian, who by now was as common a visitor as Elrond (mostly because Finarfin enjoyed spending copious amounts of time round his granddaughter and all four maia females got on well with the mischievous elleth), was particularly in love with the twins.

"I cannot wait to have children! I would love to have twins as well." She sighed as she played with Anna. Ereinion laughed.

"I should probably warn you, as someone who has experience with Elrond and his twin brother, that they most likely will be unholy terrors if you do have twins." The blond elleth smiled back impishly.

"Considering that they most likely would also have my sense of humour, that is a given. It will make life interesting at least." More than one person snorted with laughter at that.

XXX

Dinembor stood at the bow of the ship, staring across the ocean sadly. It had taken him some time to find out exactly what had happened to his queen, those who knew had been keeping the details close to their chests.

When they had first arrived back from the fight on Mount Orodruin and she had not been there he had worried that she had faded in the time since her husband's death. He held the dragon pendant in his hand and looked at it. Despite his shame at having failed in the role he had held since before the rising of the sun and the moon, he had to do this, he had to come to his queen.

The sindar limped over to a bench inside the hold painfully, hand clutching his thigh as he moved. One of the elves manning the ship offered him a hand to help him but he brushed it off. This pain was part of his penance for failing his king in the duty he had been utterly faithful to for his entire life.

Once he was able to walk again he moved back to his cabin and collapsed on the tiny cot. Most of the elves had hammocks but in light of his injury, they had arranged a cot for him instead. Under the cot were the meagre belongings he had chosen to bring with him and a large package Lord Cirdan had asked him to take when he had heard the elf's intention to visit one within the house of the intended recipients.

He sighed again, running his hand fitfully through his hair. He hoped his queen could forgive him, even though he was the reason her husband was dead and languishing in the Halls of Mandos. The lady had always been known to be kind and forgiving. If she couldn't at least accept his penitence then well, he looked at his weapons, still scarred with the damage they had taken at Dagorlad and Mount Orodruin.

He shook his head; he was dreaming and finding hope where there was none. How could he be forgiven for such a great failure? Still, he had a duty to do and even if he couldn't fulfil his most basic duty then he could at least fulfil his other, easier duties.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Elrond was sure that he wasn't supposed to be grinning at the arrival of Celeborn and Galadriel but he couldn't help it. Celebrian stood beside him, also grinning.

The reason for the visit and both Elrond and Celebrian's amusement was that Celebrian had 'dropped' into one of her letters home that she and Elrond were courting. Much to both their amusement Celeborn had made it to Imladris in record time, Galadriel following they suspected to stop her husband committing kin-slaying in a fit of paternal protectiveness.

Celeborn's greeting to Elrond was the bare minimum that manners would allow. Galadriel was far more polite and she looked almost as amused as her daughter by Celeborn's behaviour. As soon as they were in private, Celeborn turned to Elrond with a glare. Before the elf could speak Elrond smiled and made his own comment.

"Thank you Lord Celeborn, for saving me a journey." The sindar blinked, the wind apparently taken out of his sails.

"What?"

"I was soon going to make a journey to visit you so I could ask for your daughter's hand in marriage, since you are here anyway it makes sense that I ask you now. Hence, you have saved me a journey." The silver haired elf glared violently at him.

"Just how long have you been courting my daughter Elrond?" He snapped. Both Elrond and Celebrian smiled at him and responded together.

"Oh, a while." Much to Elrond's amusement, both of Celebrian's parents looks rather unnerved by the way they spoke together. Once Celeborn had taken a moment to recover, the questioning started again.

"What on Arda makes you think I would give you permission to marry my daughter when you didn't even tell me you were courting her?" Celebrian got in the answer before Elrond even had time to think up a response.

"Because your father-in-law not only approves but thinks it is a fantastic idea?" she said innocently.

"WHAT?" Yelled Galadriel, looking somewhat irate. "What the bloody hell has my reprobate father got to do with this?" All three elves stared at her. Elrond was pretty sure that Celeborn was the only one who may have ever heard the lady swear before. After a moment, Elrond recovered his shock enough to respond.

"Since she has been in Imladris, your daughter has become a regular visitor to the dream visions the maia use to communicate and has become close with Lord Finarfin, as well as my former ward and her entire family. Lord Finarfin has been very supportive of our relationship, though he did give me a very colourful warning about what would happen if I was anything other than perfectly behaved round your daughter. He was the one who told me not to tell you about my interesting in your daughter until the last minute and got Celebrian to agree. I don't think it is a good idea to repeat his exact reasoning." Galadriel rolled her eyes expressively.

"He still doesn't like Celeborn?"

"No offense my lady but I don't think he will ever like Celeborn, he is nearly as over-protective of his daughter as your husband is of his. It is somewhat ironic actually." Galadriel snorted indelicately.

"No comment whatsoever." She muttered.

XXX

Arallë was walking along one of the covered walkways of her parents' house, one that overlooked the gardens and the main entrance to the complex of buildings which housed the increasingly large maia family. To her utter surprise she saw a familiar Sindar ride into the entrance courtyard. Picking up her skirts, she rushed down to meet him.

"Dinembor! Well met my friend!" The dark haired elf swung off the horse and almost instantly curled up, hand holding thigh and cursing in pain. "You are hurt! Can you walk?"

"It is nothing my queen." He muttered. Arallë took one look at the elf's face and rolled her eyes.

"Nothing my foot!" She muttered and wrapped the arm on the side of the injured leg round her shoulders. "Come on."

She helped the elf into the house, giving orders to the servants as she went to prepare a room for him and take his luggage there. Conveniently enough, they met Riona on the way to her sick room. Sick room was technically a misnomer, it was more an injury room that had been set up after it had got round the lady was a skilled healer and even in Valinor elves sometimes injured themselves. Once the elf was sat on the bed Riona turned to them.

"So what is the problem then?"

"There is nothing lady..." He didn't get to finish as Arallë snorted derisively.

"When he got off his horse he curled up in pain round his left thigh. There is obviously some major injury there if the look of pain was anything to go by." Riona rolled her eyes at the elf.

"Left hose off then." Dinembor's eyes went wide as he stared at her and opened his mouth to object. Riona crossed her arms and glared at him, making it clear she was not going to give in on this. With a sigh and a deep blush he lifted his tunic and untied his left hose* and removed it. Riona pushed him down to lay on the bed and examined the swollen mass of purple scar tissue on the outside of his left thigh, just above the knee. "How long have you had this?"

"Since the Battle of Dagorlad." He muttered reluctantly. Both maia stared at him.

"You're a bloody masochist." Riona muttered as she gently placed a hand over the injury and sent her senses out into the limb. Since she had become a maia she had learnt several new techniques to use her maia powers to help in healing. "Was this ever tended?"

"No"

"Why not?" His jaw tensed as he looked at Arallë before he yanked his gaze away, looking guilty. "Why not?" Riona repeated.

"I deserve the pain for failing." He muttered. Riona raised a questioning eyebrow at him as she continued to examine the injury. "I failed Oropher, if I had been paying better attention to him he wouldn't have died! If failed in my most basic duty, I should have protected him!"

Riona looked at her great niece in surprise as the younger maia went over to the distressed elf's side.

"Dinembor, it was a battle, you should know that anything could happen. If anything, it was my husband's fault for being so bloody pigheaded as not to follow the battle plans. It was not your fault that you were unable to defend him in a battle at all." The dark haired elf stared at her.

"But..."

"No! My brother was there and told me what happened, you have no blame." He was still getting more distressed and then suddenly he slumped on the bed in a dead faint.

"Pressure points rock" Riona observed dispassionately. "Now what the hell was that about?"

"He was Oropher's squire, an elf I noticed was always utterly loyal to Oropher. I think he has been his squire since the day Oropher was born; I know he guarded his backside throughout the fall of Doriath..." Arallë sighed as she looked at the now unconscious elf. "How is he?" Riona turned back to the bed with a sigh.

"Not good at all."

XXX

Thranduil leant back in his office chair, thinking about his secret visits to Erywen. That reminded him, not only did he have to plan which delicacies to take her next but he also had to find a way to thank that stable hand and his daughter, they had been very helpful in providing decoys for him. This thought was quickly followed by the realisation that he didn't even know the name of the stable hand, let alone his daughter's name.

Ten minutes later Thranuil was grinning. It was so nice of the elf to be as good as to be the only elf working in his stables with a married daughter. That made things easier.

He quickly found the information he wanted. The daughter and her husband apparently wanted to have children but their quarters were too small and they were too low down on the scale in the palace hierarchy to have much chance of getting the quarters any time in the next century. Though he hoped and was assured that his workforce was generally happy, not everything was perfect. With a bit more work Thranduil had found some suitable quarters. They were a bit far away but they were large and provided plenty of room for expansion later on. The quarters also had the advantage that they had not been earmarked for anyone specific so there would not be other malcontents at him moving them.

Thranduil quickly filled in the paperwork and sent a notice to the couple before leaning back and grinning in satisfaction. That was one job done. Now to go back to plotting presents for Erywen.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* Medieval fashion note – For the development stage of the middle age that the elves are at male leg wear (especially for higher status people including squires, who were after all minor nobility in their own right) would come in the form of 'braes and hose'. Braes are what my re-enactment group refer to as 'medieval Bermuda shorts', that is fairly loose drawstring trousers that went to between mid-thigh to knee length usually made of either linen or wool. Hose are basically tight trouser (pant) legs. Unlike with modern trousers, there is no bit in the middle, just tight legs that tied to a belt round the waist worn under the tunic. These would have generally been made out of wool except for the very high status people.

It's a bit hard to find images of this unfortunately but oh well.

(If you are wondering about sources, I am a medieval re-enactor for a group called Milites de Bec and I'm taking this from our very well researched authenticity regs. We are also part of Regia Anglorum – a group who even the Americans might know since Regia has 3 groups in America. Regia cover around 900 AD up to 1066 approximately but De Bec do up to the Barons revolt which ends 1217. Braes and hose are normal up till the mid tudor era, though very late hose are rather different in style.)


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"How is your brother's love life going?" Ingwë asked, eyes twinkling.

"Better than he thinks it is." Losmeril didn't look up from the flower she was examining but she didn't need to for Ingwë to hear the mischief in her tone. He looked at his young beloved somewhat suspiciously.

"And what is that meant to mean?" She finally looked up, eyes twinkling.

"He has met the lady, but he presently thinks she is just a friend." Ingwë snorted with laughter.

"What is it with your family and 'just being friends'?" The strawberry blond raised an eyebrow at her beloved. Ingwë grinned, realising that she probably didn't know about her parent's courtship. "Your father insisted that your mother was 'just a friend' four about four hundred years before he courted and married her, even though it was a frequent occurrence for her to spend evenings on her own with him in his sitting room, curled up in his arms and ending up being put to bed by him. That was such a frequent occurrence that she had her own quarters next to his specifically for such occurrences and a second wardrobe there that your father provided for her." Losmeril looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"Your kiddng." Ingwë shook his head. "Thranduil had bloody well better not take four hundred years to work it out."

Ingwë just laughed.

XXX

Erywen just regarded him like he'd gone insane.

"You want me to go with you to a royal wedding in another realm, just as a friend?" Thranduil nodded, wondering what the problem was. "Even if I had either the wardrobe or the knowledge of how to behave in a court there is the little tiny detail that, unlike you nobles, I have to work the year round to make sure I eat through the winter. I spend a few weeks away playing princess and I don't eat this winter." She snapped, arms crossed.

Thranduil blinked in surprise. People could starve for a few weeks not working for their food? He hadn't realised how close to the breadline some of his people lived. Just as he was opening his mouth Erywen responded to the suggestions he was about to make.

"If you are about to suggest I either come live with you, even just through the winter, then the answer is no, I like living here and I do not want to deal with a bunch of stuck up nobles. If you were going to suggest bringing me food to make up the deficit, then the answer is also no. I do not mind your gifts but I will not accept charity Blondie. I can and will support myself as I have been doing for millennia." Thranduil snapped his jaw shut. How the hell did she know what he was thinking?

"Alright, I get that you don't want to go. I'll shut up. I do think you would like my sister though." She smiled and snorted.

"Even though she is trying to get you hitched?" Thranduil laughed.

"She might be annoying but she does have a good reason I suppose. Either way, it does not change the fact I love her dearly and I know she would like you. She frequently complains of people trying to make friends with her for what she can give them. I know she would love to know an elleth outside the family who would actually be friends out of genuine feeling rather than avarice." Erywen smiled softly at him.

"I've no doubt that she is lovely, but as I have stated, I have no intention of leaving here." Thranduil just smiled and drank his tea.

XXX

"You are disturbingly bouncy for an ellon whose love is in another realm." Elrond grinned at Glorfindel.

"Probably, but you forget I have a former ward and family with no respect for the separation period that is compulsory during the betrothal; a ward and family with the ability to create the illusion of being in the same place via dream vision for people over a vastly scattered area." Glorfindel sighed and then laughed softly.

"So Fëa is making it so you two can effectively ignore the enforced separation?"

"Finarfin is very fond of his granddaughter and likes talking to her and Fëa is not going to give up talking to me just so Finarfin can talk to Celebrian so..." Elrond tried his best innocent look at the Vanya. Glorfindel just rolled his eyes.

"Since I know that they can do multiple dream vision to keep groups of visitors separate..." He raised an eyebrow at Elrond who just grinned.

"Really?"

XXX

Riona, Arallë and Élanon sat in the sitting room off the quarters they had moved Dinembor to once Riona had finished operating on the nasty leg injury.

"How is he?" Arallë asked. Riona handed her a clay bowl with a small, nasty arrowhead in it. The chunk of iron was a square headed, armour piecing design with barbs to prevent removal. Though it was nasty enough, it was not orc construction; orcs did not have the construction skill to make a design like that. It must have been from the bows of the men that had been fighting for Sauron.

"He had that stuck in the wound, no wonder it was so badly healed. I have no idea how he was even walking. If he had been human then he most likely would have died from infection in fairly short order. As it was he also had a fair few splinters to go with the arrow head. I will have to check for nerve damage when he wakes up, considering where it was." She paused for a moment before turning to Élanon. "You were there, do you remember him being injured?"

The young maia grunted.

"He told me he had had it dealt with. I will bloody kill him when he's well enough, he's such a..." He trailed off with an inarticulate grunt as he tried to find a way to express his feelings.

"Masochist, idiot, absolute nutter maybe?" Élanon snorted. Riona turned to her niece. "What was all that about him being responsible for Oropher's death? You seemed to have more clue than I did." Arallë shrugged.

"Not sure exactly. As I said he has been Oropher's squire virtually as long as Oropher has been alive and has been looking after him all that time. He's always been quiet and unobtrusive but utterly loyal to my husband. He sure as hell cared a lot more about Oropher than Oropher's own father did. I know that it is far from unknown for him to have taken injuries to protect Oropher. I think he saw his failure to protect Oropher from death as a personal failure of duty to his lord. I know he has no next of kin, he never married and his parents fell in the Doriathin kinslaying. I think he must have spent all the intervening time blaming himself and building it all up in his head into something terrible. Other than that, I have no idea." Riona hummed gently as she thought.

"I wonder why he came here, and why now." She paused as if considering. "The only reason I can think of for him coming here is your presence as the wife of his king but why take an entire century to get here?" Riona looked up at her niece as a dawning look crossed her face and she let out a small 'oh'.

"Do you remember that Thranduil and the others were keeping is quiet what had happened and where we had gone when we left at the end of the age? Do you think that he might not have been able to find where I was? That might explain why he has taken so long to get here?"

"Ah, you might have a point there." Riona muttered.

XXX

Erywen stared at him in shock as she held up the beautiful dress. Thranduil smiled at her.

"Thought you might need it, just in case you ever felt like visiting me rather than the other way round. You did cite lack of suitable clothing as one of the problems..." Her jaw opened and closed a few times as she blinked in shock. She then huffed before laughing slightly and kissing his cheek.

"You are incorrigible, you know that?" He laughed.

"Yes, but you have to admit that is a beautiful dress. You will look lovely in it." She shook her head and then laughed again. After a moment she bit her lip and held the dress up to her body.

"It is a beautiful dress, I've never owned anything nearly as fine."

"I know, that is why I deliberately made it a particularly lovely dress. There is no point giving a beautiful gift like that without getting the best." Erywen looked up at him disbelievingly.

"I am beginning to think you have more wealth than sense." Thranduil grinned.

"I never pretended that I didn't. I don't think there are very many people with enough sense to supersede the amount of wealth I have." The sylvan elf snorted.

"Modest, aren't you?" Thranduil batted his eyelashes at her.

"No, just filthy rich."


	11. Chapter 11

AN: Sorry this took ages, i have been in france sans internet for the last few weeks. either way, now i have managed to post so all is good.

Chapter 11

Elrond and Celebrian's wedding was surprisingly small affair relatively speaking. Although there were parties from all the realms Celebrian was neither a princess nor related to one so, unlike at Oropher and Meriliel's wedding, only Imladris, the host nation, had a larger than normal attendance for a wedding.

There was however one surprise and that was the fact that Fëa and her family had constructively broke the rules of the Valar again so they could all come, including Gilgalad though all disguised. Thankfully the magic of the maia allowed that to be done rather more subtly then it would have been done otherwise.

Celebrian chose to wear a pale gown of green in the style popular in Lothlorien and so Elrond opted for complimentary robes in a slightly darker shade of green but cut in the style of his own realm.

Despite his earlier and rather strenuous objections, Celeborn was actually more teary eyed than his wife. Galadriel was more looking proud; though she spent a fair amount of time looking suspiciously at the elf she rightly guessed was a disguised Finarfin who had declared that he would _not_ miss his favourite granddaughter's wedding whatever the Valar said.

Much to the amusement of most of the elves visiting, neither Elrond nor Celebrian really noticed anyone other than each other throughout the day and stayed at the after party for as short a time as was polite. Fëa could tell that neither was paying any attention to the world around them because neither even responded when she called to them as they were leaving that she expected them to produce lots of babies.

XXX

It was a testament to how accustomed the Valar were to them breaking rules that, even though they had taken several elves with them back to Arda for a short trip, they got not so much as a visit or a biting comment from Manwë. Ingwë reported back that Manwë had barely moaned about it at all, apparently viewing Riona and her family as a lost cause.

Meanwhile, Dinembor recovered from his leg wound slowly with the aid of a lot of bed rest. Arallë spent as much time round the injured elf as was possible but it was hard as he had trouble meeting her eyes and point blank refused her protestations of his lack of responsibility for Oropher's death. No matter what anyone said, he maintained his belief in his own culpability.

Some weeks after Elrond and Celebrian's marriage Arallë and Dinembor received a very surprising pair of visitors.

When the two Ellyn, one silver haired and the other golden haired, entered the sitting room where Dinembor and Arallë were sitting, she reading and him doing some exercises that Riona had prescribed for his leg, Dinembor tried to stand. Without even looking at him, Arallë snapped an order for him to sit back down. So surprised at her actually directly ordering to do something, he sat straight back down.

"My lords, well met." She stood and greeted the pair. It was pretty obvious both were lords just by their clothing and bearings. Both sat down and took the offered drinks at her bidding. Once the social niceties had been seen to, Dinembor hesitantly addressed Arallë.

"My Queen," even though she was not technically a queen anymore, the sindar still insisted on calling her that; "Shall I introduce the lords?" She smiled at him.

"Please do." He indicated first to the silver haired elf and then the golden haired elf.

"May I introduce King Thingol of Doriath and his nephew, Iaurvor, your father in law. My lords, if I may introduce Arallë of the House of Eönwë*, wife of King Oropher, late king of Greenwood the Great." The lack of surprise on the two sindar's faces showed that they were fully aware of who she was. Arallë couldn't help examining the face of her father-in-law. No-one had ever mentioned much about him and the very few times he had, in any way, come up in conversation did not reflect well on the elf. After a moment of silence Iaurvor decided to speak.

"I have to admit a little surprise at the introduction; the elves sailing from Arda reported you to be named Meriliel." She smiled somewhat neutrally at him, there was something about this elf she didn't trust.

"As you may be aware, I was born in Valinor and Arallë is the name my parents gave me. When I was very young, Manwë and Varda sent my brother, my cousin and I to Arda. My cousin was the only one of us old enough to be able to impart her name to those who found her and since she was in Lindon while we were in Greenwood the Great it was necessary for new names to be given to us and thus, while I was in Arda my name was Meriliel. Now I am back in Valinor I have resumed being know by my birth name, as has my brother."

"Ah, of course." Iaurvor said politely. After a pause, he resumed his questioning in an overly polite, neutral tone of voice. "I was somewhat shocked to find out that my son had remarried. One was sure that he had more respect for Faelwen then that."

Arallë's eye went flat at the not so subtle dig at her, as did, surprisingly, Dinembor's expression.

"The problem, my lord, is that respect was all he had for his first wife." It took some effort not to snap that response but Iaurvor just raised an eyebrow at her. As he was about to respond, Dinembor spoke.

"In all due respect my lord, my queen has a point. Neither of them more than respected the other and they were quite unhappy together. Faelwen was almost happy to die in the end and I doubt she will willingly be reborn. When King Oropher saw the chance for a happy marriage, he took it. I have great respect for my queen and she has been tremendously good for him. Both the residents of the Greenwood and our allies in other kingdoms noticed the vast improvement in Oropher after his marriage to the lady. It is also not like you can argue about Queen Arallë's pedigree, she beats Faelwen's by some mile." He put in softly. Iaurvor sent him a look of flat hatred. Before a fight broke out Thingol finally entered the conversation.

"Well, I have to admit that both Dinembor and the Lady have a point. You know I never entirely agreed with insisting Oropher marry, he was rather too young. If the Lady Maia managed to make him happy, then the marriage was well made, if she made him a better ruler then it is even more so. I think, however, that it would be in your interest to remember the lady is the great niece of Eönwë and lives within his extended household." The last comment was said somewhat pointedly. Arallë nearly smirked. It was clear that the older elf was reminding Iaurvor that being nasty to the kin of the most powerful maia going probably wasn't such a great idea.

There was a pregnant pause as the two had a staring match, which Iaurvor lost, before Thingol turned back to Arallë.

"If you please, I would like to hear about my descendant. From what I have heard, you are rather closer to my descendants than most who I have the opportunity to speak to." Arallë bowed her head and acquiesced, recognising a deliberate topic change when she saw it.

XXX

Several hours later, once their sindarin guests had gone, Dinembor was sitting, glaring at the door and muttering imprecations. Arallë and Riona got the impression that if he had been able to walk properly, he would have been pacing. After a while of watching him, and in Arallë's case getting used to this behaviour from the usually silent, solicitous elf, Riona interrupted his muttered monologue.

"I take it you do not like Lord Iaurvor, then?" The dark haired elf snorted.

"I like him about as much as he likes me, that is to say, not at all." Both maia raised an eyebrow at him.

"Why does he dislike you particularly?"

"Because when Oropher was very young he used to call me Ada, not Iaurvor. He saw how the other children's' fathers behaved towards them and assumed I must be his father and it took years before he was old enough to understand, though he never did use the familiar form of the word with Iaurvor as he did with me. It annoyed Iaurvor terribly that he couldn't get rid of me, both because of the contract making me Oropher's squire and because Thingol chose me, not him, and that was mostly for politics reasons." There was a snort from the doorway as Daffyd walked in.

"I was only in the same room as that streak of cack for a minute or two and already know that an adolescent human would have made a better father than him." Dinembor gave the maia a lopsided smile.

"Can I entreat you and lady Riona to give him a few lessons on the finer points of Manwë's misfortunes by the way? He was trying to insult my lady Arallë and since I'm incapacitated, I could not thump him." All three maia snorted with laughter.

"I think I like this one." Riona grinned. They lapsed into comfortable silence for some time before Arallë spoke, turning to face her husband's squire.

"You seem quite defensive of me, I was a little surprised at you taking my side against both of them, especially as Thingol was your original king." The dark elf smiled wryly at her.

"I respect you deeply, my lady. I have since that first night that Oropher called you to his rooms. There are not many elves who would have been willing or so natural in giving him the companionship he needed. Oropher spent most of his adult life as a deeply unhappy, lonely elf, lonely in a way that I could not appease, and you came in and gave him back his happiness for no reason other than you are a kind person." She blinked at him in surprise.

"You were in the room? I did not see you." He smiled sardonically at her.

"I long ago learnt to hide in the shadows. Very few people knew I was there if I didn't want them to. Part of my being his squire was also being Oropher's bodyguard and protector. I have never been more than one doorway away from him, not in his entire life. I would hardly be able to protect him if I had been." Arallë blinked at him.

"You know, I am beginning to see why you are not married. You are married to your job." He laughed dryly.

"I have never heard it put that way before but I suppose that about covers it. If that is the case though, then does that make Oropher my child?" Arallë laughed.

"Absolutely no comment, whatsoever."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Thranduil sat down in his office and stared at the pile of paperwork that had built up in his absence. Maybe Erywen had a point about the work load – if he compared the amount of paperwork he had to do with providing food for winter then well, admittedly he knew next to nothing about farming or whatever methods Erywen used to feed herself but he was beginning to understand what she was talking about.

Sometime later Losmeril came into his office with lunch.

"You're looking disturbingly pensive for someone who is catching up on a lot of boring paperwork." Thranduil raised an eyebrow and laughed softly at his sister.

"How is being pensive disturbing?"

"From you? While you are doing paperwork? Do you want a list?" This time Thranduil laughed outright.

"Alright, it had occurred to me I know nothing about how a large chunk of my people feed themselves, or the problems they might face doing so. I was thinking on that. It is disturbing to think that if something went wrong that it is perfectly plausible that some of my people could actually starve." Losmeril raised an eyebrow at him.

"What brought on that line of thought, out of curiosity?" Thranduil shook his head, not ready to tell his sister about Erywen.

"Oh, just a conversation I had." She gave him a suspicious look.

"Right." Losmeril said doubtfully before leaving him to his lunch and paperwork.

XXX

"You know, I'm not sure whether it's my brother being an idiot or whether he thinks I'm an idiot." Ingwë snorted softly and just looked at his beloved. Despite having had limited contact with elleth before having become involved in the maia family, he knew when it was better to sit back and listen while one ranted.

"On the one hand he must be completely oblivious despite the fact that she has done more to change his views than any other person I've come across or he must think I am blind and stupid not to notice the changes already happening, not to mention the fact that every time he runs off he takes gifts with him. I especially think that dress he had made was rather obvious." Ingwë rose and captured Losmeril's lips and kissed her until tensed muscles relaxed.

"May I remind you that your dear great uncle managed to court Riona without even realising he was doing it. Males in love are legendary for being idiots on the subject, especially if they weren't looking for it. Considering your brother is deliberately trying to avoid love, well, I suspect that it may well take either a long time or a surprise to give him a kick up the proverbial posterior." Losmeril laughed softly.

"You know, my parents have never forgiven you for teaching me to swear..." Ingwë laughed softly at the non-sequiter, not taking much of an effort to work out where it had come from.

"Considering who you were growing up around, I'm surprised you couldn't already." She gave him a pointed look.

"Maybe a little bit but to be honest, I think I was not the only one there who had their vocabulary broadened that day. I know Fëa and Gilgalad spent some time trying to work out where you had learnt those words though. It doesn't really fit with your almighty, glowy, overly perfect high king image." Ingwë snorted again.

"Almighty, glowy, overly perfect high king image?" he laughed again. "Where did that come from?"

"Aunty Riona of course, where else?" He rolled his eyes and laughed.

"Should have guessed."

XXX

Fëa laughed at the look on her father's face as both of her children barrelled onto his lap at high speed. She guessed one of them had landed on somewhere painful. A quick look in the direction of the doorway, where her husband was lounging with an amused expression on his face rather confirmed who had put the two girls up to that method of greeting, not that they needed much encouragement.

The two girl were not much past toddler-hood but were more than stable enough on their feet now to manage incredible speed when they wanted. Fea was just glad they couldn't get anywhere where there were not sufficient elves to catch them, though not for lack of trying on the girls' part.

Once her father had recovered from his grandchildren's enthusiastic greeting he began fussing and talking with the two girls who were happily babbling away about the content of their lessons. Fea noticed she was not the only one smiling at the way he managed to sound interested and surprised at the information they imparted, even though she knew damn well that he had known all that they were telling him for some millennia.

Smiling softly at her highly enthusiastic offspring, she went and sat next to her father who wrapped an arm round her and the girls spread out onto her lap, mostly because there just wasn't enough room on their grandfather's alone (though not for lack of trying on their part).

XXX

Sometime later Fea and Ereinion sat there in each other's arms, trying not to laugh at the conversation between Arallë, Thranduil and Losmeril.

Thranduil was not aware that anyone other than himself knew about Erywen and was trying to wax eloquent about the lady without actually revealing that there was in fact a lady in the picture. Arallë was nodding along, amused smile on her face, whilest trying to drop subtle hint about the fact she did in fact know about Erywen and trying to get her idiotic step-son to realise he was falling for Erywen. Losmeril was sitting there, looking frustrated and trying, without revealing she also knew about Erywen, to convince her brother to both tell them about the lady and to bring the lady to court, while also trying to get Thranduil to realise he was in love. Dinembor was sitting in the corner of the room trying his best not to laugh at the trio while occasionally adding his two cents to the conversation, usually in the form of dry comments at the expense of his king's son. Thranduil was completely oblivious though.

After watching the entertainment for some time, Fea looked over to her parents who were watching on as well. Riona's expression was pure amusement but Eönwë wore a rather more complicated expression. Granted a large part was amusement but there were several more difficult to identify expressions on his face. As if sensing her gaze RIona turned from the trio to look at her daughter, and at the querying expression, nodded and winked with a grin up at her husband.

Losmeril caught the exchange and let a long suffering sigh and buried her head in her hands. When Ingwë had commented that utter cluelessness seemed to run in her family, he hadn't been joking had he?

XXX

Thranduil got the horse to trot along, since for once he was in no particular hurry and he was actually enjoying the ride to visit Erywen. This time his gift was a necklace to go with the dress he had given her, as well as the traditional baked goodies.

He wasn't far from the clearing he heard what rounded like scuffling, which put him on his guard and the growl even more so. Seconds later there was a scream which confirmed his worries. Without a second thought, Thranduil drew the sword at his waist and kicked his horse in the direction to the scream had come from.

His horse got the first kill, braining the wolf with steel shod hooves. The next kill was achieved by Thranduil's blade slicing the head off another wolf. With an icy skill honed at the end of the previous age, Thranduil and his battle trained horse massacres the wolf pack.

Only once he was sure the wolves were dead and the danger gone did Thranduil look round for the source of the scream. Standing on the other side of the clearing, back to a tree, stood Erywen, ivory handled dual blades in her hands and blood stains on her dress. Before her were two more dead wolves. Erywen was panting and looking round the carnage with a look of horror on her face.

Thranduil's protective impulses washed over him.

"Erywen, go change into the dress I gave you and gather the things you need." He ordered. Erywen gave him a baffled look, still recovering from the shock. "It is too dangerous for you to stay here; you are coming with me to where I can protect you." He snapped, muscles still pumped from the fight.

It was a testament to how shocked Erywen was that she did not argue but obeyed immediately. It did not take long for her to return in the beautiful gown with a bundle wrapped in cloth. In other circumstances, Thranduil might have questioned the small size of the bundle but he was far too tense to notice little details. He picked Erywen up and placed her on the horse before swinging up himself and point pointing the beast in the direction of the palace. The horse need little prompting to speed into a gallop.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Losmeril was waiting for him on the steps of the palace as Thranduil galloped in at high speed. The horse almost skidded to a halt at the bottom of the steps and nearly before the horse had stopped moving, Thranduil had swung off and lifted Erywen off the horse, leading her up the steps of the palace. When they reached his sister, Losmeril greeted them with a remarkable lack of surprise.

"Thranduil;" She nodded at her brother before turning to the wood elf, "Well met Erywen. You are welcome here." Thranduil blinked out of the protective haze he had been in since hearing Erywen scream to stare at his sister.

"How do you even know her name?" He asked in confusion. Losmeril rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Half maia?" She said waving in the direction of her face. "How the hell do you think I know?" Erywen giggled slightly. To Thranduil that was a rather alien sound from the usually sardonic elleth. Losmeril obviously realised something was wrong as well as she took the elleth's elbow and lead her through the palace to the royal apartments and into her own sitting room where she sat Erywen down. On the way she had shouted a few orders to servants and hot water was already on the fire.

"I see Thranduil has finally bothered to admit to the rest of the family that you exist then." Once again the elleth giggled, though less tensely than before. Losmeril shoved a mug of calming tea into her hands and bid her drink the warm liquid. As Erywen was nursing the drink, Losmeril sat beside her and pulled the elleth into her arms. Thranduil knew that the hug was not just for comfort but also because it made it easier for her to use her magic to subtly check Erywen's health.

Once she was sure the elleth was calm enough, Losmeril turned to her brother, who had sunk onto one of the other seats.

"So what happened?" Neither missed Erywen curling further into Losmeril's arms at the question.

"Erywen got attack by a pack of wolves just as I was coming to see her. She killed some and I killed the rest. Once they were gone I told her to change into the dress I gave her and to gather what she needed because I was taking her here where I could protect her." The last comment was said with a tone daring either of the females to disagree with him.

Erywen let out a sound that Losmeril suspected would have been a sniffle if she had been human. The half maia hugged tighter for a moment before looking at Erywen, silently asking for her input. After a moment the elleth looked up the nervously and asked in a small voice;

"What am I going to do here? I mean..." She trailed off. Thranduil and Losmeril looked at each other before Losmeril responded.

"That depends on what you mean by 'do'. If you mean what are you going to spend your days doing, nothing is particularly set but I can think of a few suggestions which might appeal to you. That basically depends on what you like doing. If you mean living arrangements, such as 'where', 'food' and 'clothes', well those will all be provided for. Perks of being the guest of the king that. Before you ask, I have already ordered an apartment prepared for you and until more clothing can be made I'll lend you some things. If you want I'll..." She trailed off as she noticed the look the elleth was giving her brother. "Is something wrong?"

"King?" Erywen asked and Thranduil blushed slightly. After a moment Losmeril worked out the problem.

"I'm guessing someone forgot to mention that little detail, then?" Thranduil blushed more deeply and Erywen nodded against her shoulder. Losmeril rolled her eyes and sighed deeply.

Males!

XXX

"Why are we here?" Erywen asked, looking around the ornate gardens in confusion.

"So my beloved's family don't scare the life out of you when you are still recovering from shock." The elleth turned round to see a very tall, golden haired elf with this odd air of perfect serenity about him leaning against a tree in a manner that seriously contradicted the serene air he had. Absently Erywen wondered how you could come across serene while lounging against a tree nonchalantly.

"My beloved and unofficial betrothed, King Ingwë of the Eldar, if you are wondering. This is what my brother and I refer to as a dream vision by the way." Said Losmeril from beside her. After guiding the elleth to one of the benches the half maia went across to the elf and curled into his arms after kissing him. "My great aunt started initiating them so she and my grandparents could talk to their children after Manwë and Varda sent Mama, Uncle Galadhion and Fea to Arda and they've managed to carry on since then. Knowing my Valinorian family now my darling brother has admitted you exist, you will get called into one at the first opportunity to be introduced to the whole insane family (bar our father since he's in the halls of Mandos). Apparently Ingwë felt it would be nice to give you a warning beforehand. My beloved is considerate like that."

Erywen laughed feebly and looked around.

"So where are we, or is this an invented landscape?"

"We are presently in the private gardens of the Palace of King Ingwë of the Eldar. Its where Ingwë and I meet when we don't want to be interrupted by the rest of the family. Usually the dream visions are somewhere in the family home or the gardens there. If and when you visit Imladris you will see that when Elrond and Fea built the haven Fea was seriously plagiarising off her parents' home for the architectural plans." Erywen looked down.

"Oh." Losmeril moved from Ingwë's lap to sit beside the wood elf.

"I know it is all a rather big shock. You will get used to it. I'm afraid you'll have to, now Thranduil has got you to the palace, he won't let you go, especially since he has half a justification for worrying about your safety. I will do all I can to make the transition easier." Erywen smiled waterily at the half maia.

"Thank you. I admit it does still feel nice to have people care for me. It's just such a change and such a shock..." Losmeril smiled slightly.

"I can imagine it would be. Since we are on the subject, I should probably warn you that my brother has rather unilaterally decided to award you a title of nobility, complete with some lands vacated during the last war. The official reason being that he wants to pre-empt the idiots left over from my father's era who are just a bit obsessed with titles of nobility. The unofficial reason being because he wanted to. That's the thing with kings, its rather hard to tell them not to do things like that. I privately suspect that Thranduil also had the ulterior motive of wanting to watch my father's more irritating advisors bounce off the walls at something they don't like at all but cannot justify any complaints about."

Erywen was staring at her with a look of dawning horror.

"Lands? What the hell do I do with lands? Aren't I supposed to look after the people who live on them or something?"

"Don't worry about it, we'll teach you what to do. Anyway, I think you'll do better than most of the idiots with title in the Greenwood. You have this thing called experience of what the common people actually need. Most of those aforementioned idiots think knowing about the poor is nothing short of blasphemous. If anything we've seen is to go by, when you recover from the shock, you've got one hell of a back bone. It'll be interesting seeing those lot arguing with someone willing to tell them to shove it where the sun don't shine."

Erywen laughed out loud.

"You know, this is almost beginning to sound interesting."

XXX

Dinembor was trying very hard not to laugh at the bafflement on the Lady Riona's face which was matched by that on the face of Thranduil.

"What do you mean you can't find Erywen? She's in the apartment next to mine!" Riona glared at the elf.

"I mean that she either not asleep or already in a dream vision which is obviously not the case because she is not here! It's hard to explain how we call people into the dream visions but whatever is going on, we cannot call her into one." Riona ran a hand through her hair in frustration. After several moments of silence while everyone was concertedly not saying anything to the obviously frustrated maia in case she snapped at them, Dinembor leant back to make a quiet observation.

"I can't help noticing that neither Losmeril nor Ingwë are here." Everyone looked at him then proceeded to look around for the pair and blinked in surprise as they noticed the rather conspicuous absence of the pair.

Suddenly Riona slapped her forehead.

"The sneaky whatsits! They've been using their own dream vision to have private time together. No wonder they seem to know each other so well." Suddenly she grinned at Thranduil. "Have fun chaperoning them!"

The blond glared.

"Not funny!"


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Thranduil was doing a very bad job of not glaring at his sister. Losmeril, however was just sitting there, smiling serenely with just a hint of a self satisfied smirk about her. Erywen was sitting watching them with barely concealed amusement.

After some moments Losmeril decided to break the heavy silence.

"Brother mine, is there something wrong?" Thranduil's glare deepened.

"You know bloody well what is wrong!" Losmeril raised an eyebrow. "You have been meeting Ingwë unchaperoned via dream visions!"

"And?"

"Losmeril Oropheriel! That is utterly improper!" He looked about to go on but his sister butted in.

"You're just pissed that you couldn't introduce Erywen to the family last night." Thranduil gaped like a fish for a moment before regaining his balance.

"That is not the issue here! The issue is that you have been having improper meetings with the high king. Chaperoning is for your own safety! Without anyone watching he could be dishonouring you, he could be..."

"Do I need to get him to order you to shut up?" Erywen could not help but burst out laughing out the look on the siblings' faces. Both turned to her with identical raised eyebrow expressions. That sent her off into more gales of laughter.

"You two are ridiculous! Listening to that, no-one would ever believe you are the two highest ranking elves in the Greenwood!" Both elves carried on looking at her. Then Losmeril looked at her brother.

"I don't think the lords of the Realm are going to survive her." Thranduil raised a hand to his forehead and pretended to swoon.

"Oh how terrible!"

XXX

Fea sat concentrating on her lace cushion and pretending not to be obvious about watching the two young children sneaking across the room, obviously up to no good. Fea also had to resist the temptation to grin at them as the two were occasionally looking at her cautiously.

The two carefully sneaked up to the table where there was a set of glass figurines making up a little scene. Once they were past her, Fea very quietly rose and leant over so her mouth was near the two little girls' ears.

"You two aren't up to something are you?" She whispered. Both of them jumped up and turned round to stare at her. As soon as they saw their mother there, the both put their hands behind their backs and adopted innocent expressions. Fea stared at the two, utterly unconvinced.

"We were just playing Nana. We weren't doing anything wrong!" Fea looked at the younger of her children.

"So you two weren't going to play with the glass figurines you were expressly forbidden from playing with when you asked yesterday?" The two girls went even wider with badly feigned innocence.

"No Nana!"

"So why were you sneaking over to the table with them on then?" The two girls looked at each other and then at the table and around to try and find an excuse for why they were sneaking past. Both children's jaws flapped as they failed to find any excuse. Fea just raised an eyebrow and smiled sardonically at them.

XXX

Thranduil tried not to smile as the assorted lords stared at him with assorted variations on apoplexy.

"Is something wrong my lords?" He asked innocently. More than one elf gaped at him.

"Your majesty! You cannot just appoint some commoner as the lady of a vacant lordship." Thranduil raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"My Lord! It is just not done!" Thranduil smiled.

"I just did." He smiled benevolently at them as they gaped at him like fishes out of water. "Is there anything else my lords?" They were too busy gaping at him to comment and so he swept out the room, Galion following him.

He swept into the royal quarters and to Losmeril's sitting room where the two elleth were sitting gossiping or something. They both looked up at him and his sister raised her eyebrow at the broad grin that had split his face the moment he was in private. Thranduil walked over to darker haired elleth and bowed.

"Welcome to my court, Lady Erywen." The elleth in question raised an eyebrow. "I just ennobled you, I shall introduce you to your new lands soon." Losmeril snorted from across the room as Erywen just blinked up at him.

"And what was your lords reaction to this?" He grinned at her.

"Well they have probably just about recovered from the shock." Galion grinned at his adopted daughter.

"He walked over the top of them. It is one of the funniest council meetings I have ever been in. They barely got a word in." The two ellyn grinned at each other and sprawled over the furniture. Thranduil smiled over at his squire.

"Why don't you invite your wife over? I think my Lady Erywen needs a lady in waiting to help teach her about her new role. Tomorrow we shall go look over her new lands and it would be good for her to have her lady in waiting with her when she looks round." Galion raised an eyebrow at his king.

"Keeping it in the family are we?" Losmeril snorted.

"What, like incest?" All three elves turned to stare at her. Losmeril grinned and shrugged unrepentantly. "Just thought I'd throw that in there..." The elves carried on staring at her for a moment then Erywen snorted sardonically.

"Well, that was a conversation killer..." Losmeril grinned at her.

XXX

Elrond grinned at his wife, who was sitting in his lap with an unusually demure blush about her.

"Any particular reason you have rediscovered how to blush? I thought Riona had cured you of that." Celebrian grinned at him and then kissed his cheek gently and then nuzzled his neck. After a few moments of general affection being shared she lifted his hand and pressed it to her smooth, flat stomach. Elrond looked at her blankly before his eyes widened and sent his senses out.

After a few seconds he gasped in shock and looked up at his wife.

"You're..." She nodded, blushing deeply. His eyes widened and he kissed her deeply. After some time kissing her he sent his senses back out, probing the new life force centred around his wife's lower stomach. After a few moments, his eyes widened in shock.

"Celebrian, there are two..." She stared at him.

"Oh Valar! Have you seen Fea and Gilgalad's two?" He went pale as he stared at her.

"Oh Valar, do you think Imladris will survive?"

They both snorted with laughter.

XXX

Ingwë smiled as he ducked through the trees in this rather unusual garden. It was one that belonged to another Palace of the Vanya. Unlike most of the Palaces of the Vanya, the gardens of this one had been allowed to grow completely unguided. It was normal for the Vanya to gently guide the plants into aesthetically pleasing forms to make for wide open gardens a person could stroll through. This house had once also done that but since the fall of the Noldor it had allowed the gardens grow any old how. The tragedies that had befallen the house had meant they were no longer bothered about beautiful garden one could stroll through.

Even so the Vanyarin king smiled as he carried on walking until he found the reason for his visit. Sitting on a mostly concealed bench was a beautiful Vanyarin Elleth with long golden hair so similar to her brother's and for which the household had been named.

She was sitting in what he had long considered to be her 'listening' posture and as he approached her, she turned to him with a gentle smile, offering him one dainty hand.

"My Lord Ingwë. I am glad you have come to visit. I was missing your company." He kissed her fingertips, smiling slightly at the elleth and her carefully chosen words.

"My lady, it is good to see you again. Though how many time do I have to tell you to use my name without a title?" She laughed, a sound like a waterfall.

"Only as many times as I have to tell you to use my name, high king." Ingwë grinned and sat beside her on the bench.

"I have news of your brother, though much more of what is going on round him. Either way I think you will enjoy it..."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Elrond watched the sylvan elf be introduced to the whole crowd of elves and maia she was being introduced to. He guessed he was right in the assumption that Losmeril and Ingwë had taken her into a more private dream vision to warn her before hand as the sylvan was not overly overwhelmed at being introduced to a rather large number of very distinguished elves as well as the rather rambunctious maia family.

Soon they sat down to talk, monopolising the elleth and she got progressively more uncomfortable at the attention. Elrond turned to his wife and winked at her. They had decided to save their news until it appeared that Erywen was getting uncomfortable with the huge attention so they could take the light off her.

Celebrian coughed lightly, catching her grandfather's attention. She indicated quietly that she wanted the whole group's attention. It did not take long for the king to gather the attention away from Erywen and everyone turned to Celebrian and Elrond curiously. The two looked at each other awkwardly, not actually sure how to break the news to the group.

Riona looked at them penetratingly.

"You're pregnant, aren't you?" The two looked at each other in surprise and then at the red haired maia. She grinned at them. "Boy, girl?"

The two looked at each other.

"Boys." Fea raised her eyebrow.

"Boys plural?" Celebrian flushed again and the younger maia's eyes lit up. "You're having twins!" They nodded at her and she grinned.

"Ohhhhhh, you are in for hell. They'll be worse than our little madams!" Gilgalad laughed and grinned wickedly at the pair.

"Shall we set up betrothal contracts?" Everyone stared at him. Finally Élanon responded, talking slowly as if to a stupid child.

"If their hellion sons marry your hellion daughters, you are almost certainly going to get huge numbers of multiple birth hellion grandchildren who are going to rip both Valinor and Arda to pieces and leave them to burn before somehow getting to Lady Riona's world and burning that to hell as well." Gilgalad grinned at the maia.

"Yes, that was the general idea." The maia stared at the elf for several long minutes before turning round and banging his head against the tree.

XXX

The news of Celebrian's pregnancy went through the elfin realms like wild fire. Celeborn and Galadriel made a bee line for the hidden valley to assist their daughter through the pregnancy. The night that Celebrian found out about that, she asked, via dream vision, that Losmeril and Erywen came to Imladris and save her from her mother. Celebrian loved her mother but the Noldorin Princess could be just a bit overbearing.

The older elleth looked somewhat miffed at the arrival of the half maia princess with both Erywen and Eama. In all fairness, it was probably the way that Celebrian greeted the daughter of Oropher with such familiarity that got to the lady. To her knowledge they barely knew each other and the half maia was the child of an elf famous for hating Galadriel and her husband. To the Noldo, there was no way they should be so familiar.

Once they were in private Galadriel turned to the trio with the sort of look that made the lady feared. Losmeril just smiled serenely up. When your family heritage includes pranking the lord of the valar and facing down Sauron, Galadriel suddenly seemed less scary.

"How exactly are you so familiar, if I may ask? Last time I checked you had hardly had the opportunity to meet each other." The lady asked tartly. Losmeril smiled serenely at the elf, an expression she had perfected round her beloved.

"Unlike you, nana, I do not have any objection to dream visions to keep in contact." Celebrian said sweetly to a glare from her mother. She carried on smiling sweetly until her mother gave up on the question. Instead she turned to the sylvan elf that she had no knowledge of.

"I have to admit that I have no idea who you are, Lady Erywen." She commented questioningly.

"Erywen is a sylvan elf of the greenwood recently ennobled by my brother. They have been friends since before the wedding of Lord Elrond and Lady Celebrian. She is officially my lady in waiting and Eama fulfils the role for her hence their presence. The lady Erywen is a close friend of both of us." Losmeril answered when she saw Erywen begin to panic, not sure how to deal with the intimidating elleth. "If you will forgive her, she has lived a rather solitary life until relatively recently and as such is rather more reserved than you are probably used to."

The two elleth stared at each other until Galadriel stood down. Celebrian and Eama stared slightly slack jawed at them. Neither had _ever_ seen Galadriel be stared down by _anyone_ . Even Finarfin and Ingwë had never achieved that.

XXX

Finarfin was grinning insanely at Losmeril as they woke up in the dream vision. The princess raised an eyebrow at the elf before leaning back slightly and giving the elf king a slightly freaked out look.

"Finarfin, are you okay? You look rather scarily cheerful right now." The ancient elf carried on grinning at her.

"I must congratulate you princess, you have managed the unachievable!" Losmeril carried on staring at Finarfin cautiously. "You managed to stare down my daughter!"

The assorted elves and maia stared at them for a moment while Losmeril carried on staring at him before her face split into a grin.

"You mean I am the first person to have _ever_ stared her down?" He grinned at her broadly. Losmeril blinked at him a few times in shock before her face warped into a self satisfied grin.

"One for me!" She pumped the air to the utter amusement of her family.

"Is this normal?" Erywen asked Thanduil quietly. He smiled at her with more than a slight twinkle in his eyes.

"Depends how you define normal. In this family, no less normal than anything else, generally though, not in the slightest bit." Erywen looked at him with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"How did Arda survive this lot ruling them?" Thranduil snorted.

"Actually I think this insanity is mostly a result of them ruling the elves. Either you go insane or become boring and/or grumpy. Look at my father for a case in point." She laughed indelicately.

"What, grumpy till this lot got to him and then insane as well?" Thranduil laughed and pulled her closer to him, smiling when she curled into his chest.

XXX

It was spring of the year 130 of the third age that Celebrian went into labour with twin sons. Nearly 20 hours later the second son was born. It was maybe half an hour later when Elrond, swiftly followed by his father in law and Thranduil (the unlikely duo had temporarily put aside any potential animosity in the name of keeping Elrond sane after Losmeril, Galadriel, Erywen and Eama had kicked him out the birthing room shortly after the start of Celebrian's labour).

Losmeril and Erywen were standing back across the room while Eama and Galadriel fussed around the bed. Somewhat jerkily, Elrond hastily made his way over to the bed and collapsed next to Celebrian, pulling her into a tight hug. Once he had reassured himself that his wife was okay he relaxed somewhat and was able to hold his children, first the elder of the two twin, who he named Elladan and then the younger of the pair, who he named Elrohir.

Across the room Losmeril noted Erywen curling into Thranduil's arms as they watched to scene, smiling softly. She gently elbowed Celeborn, who stood next to her, and he turned to see the pair and then back to Losmeril. The two elves shared a look of amused accord before turning back to Celebrian and Elrond with gentle grins.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Losmeril flung herself into her beloved arms, grinning joyfully. Dutifully he swung her round before placing her on the ground.

"What has got you so happy? I haven't seen you this cheerful since you stared down Galadriel." As expected, that incident had become somewhat of a Valinor legend. Even the Valar themselves were rather impressed with Losmeril.

"Thranduil has finally asked Erywen if he can court her! Their marriage and thus me being able to come to Valinor are in the foreseeable future." Ingwë kissed her deeply several times.

"Will you leave once they are married?" Losmeril considered that.

"I'll probably wait a little while after they've married to help Erywen settle into her role, she wasn't brought up to rule at all and I suspect she will also need help dealing with court until she is settled in as queen and assorted nobles have gotten over a recent commoner sylvan elf as queen. For goodness sake, look how they reacted to Mother who had a fantastic pedigree and a fair amount of training, just because she had been brought up by a very minor noble." Ingwë snorted cynically.

"True enough, though I have faith that you and Thranduil are more than able to flatten them as your father did. I also have faith that only a certain amount of mud will be flung before Erywen herself tells them where to go." Losmeril giggle.

"I know, and that is one thing a really want to see. I'm really want to see if it is possible for elves to have heart attacks." Ingwë just laughed into his beloved's hair.

XXX

"You were saying about betrothals?" Fea commented, grinning at her cousin. They were sitting with Arallë, Daffyd, Dinembor, Elrond and Celebrian watching both sets of twins playing together. Narinyë and Anna had decided the two babies, now nearly toddlers, were a type of clever new doll to play with. Thankfully the younger set of twin did not seem to mind being fussed outrageously by the two red haired girls.

Elanon snorted softly as Elrond smiled.

"What really worries me is the way your daughters are dressing my sons in dresses and neither boy seems to mind it at all." Arallë grinned at the elf.

"Consider it practice for them wearing robes in later life." Without even looking up at the maia, Elrond stuck his tongue out at her.

"Robes are not dresses Arallë, whatever you say." More than one elf laughed at that.

XXX

Erywen turned round, arms crossed, to face the trio of elleth who had been stalking her. The group glared balefully at her.

"May I ask why you three are following me around? I assure you that my life is not so interesting as to justify followers." The elleth continued staring balefully before one of them stepped forward and answered, hissing like an angry cat.

"We wanted to see what the hell it is you have going for you that makes the King interested in you. It can hardly be good breeding; you are barely more than an animal, you Sylvan." Erywen raised an eyebrow by a carefully tuned fraction of an inch at the elleth before smiling at them with flat, icy eyes.

"Its called personality, an alien concept to you, I am sure but..." She had leant forward to pat the ringleader's face patronisingly and in response, the elleth had screeched like a wildcat and gone for her with her nails.

Ducking with a speed trained by living most of her life in the wilds, Erywen went under the arm intended to scratch her and around the side of the elleth, grabbing her long hair and kicking her knees out under her. Erywen held her head at arm's length by the hair as she flayed and kicked, hissing curses, adding to the catlike image.

The corridor they were in was a fairly major one and the moment the confrontation started, a crowd had formed round them. The other two elleth had pulled back somewhat and were staring at the third in shock. After a minute or two that elleth clearly gave up and stopped flaying. Erywen did not loosen her grip on the elleth's hair.

"Have you finished yet? Or do you want to carry on your wildcat impression my lady?" The elleth was about to react when Thranduil and Losmeril both broke through the crowd.

The King immediately went to Erywen and pulled her into his arms protectively and then after a moment pulled back to kiss her tenderly.

All of the onlooker were silent, the three elleth watching on with looks of growing chargrin. Thranduil particularly was utterly oblivious as he comforted himself the Erywen was okay. It was abjectly clear to anyone that he absolutely adored the elleth in front of him. Erywen rather obviously shared his feelings.

Losmeril carefully looked at the faces in the crowd to see if any more of them would potentially cause trouble, then at the trio of elleth. She grabbed the ringleader's shoulder and indicated that the trio should follow her.

"It might be an idea to get out of here before my brother remembers you are here and decides to do something about the people stupid enough to attack his beloved. That would not be pretty." It was not just the elleth who went white and Losmeril carefully noted those others as she led the trio off.

XXX

Word of the confrontation (grossly exaggerated of course) got around the kingdom within the week and across the entire palace, stable boys upwards, within less than a day. Thankfully, the version going round was very sympathetic to Erywen, winning over many of the sceptics within the kingdom.

The common people absolutely loved her, especially the sylvan population. News of how she ran her lands had got round before the incident and had already made her popular. When she stood down one of the most stuck up elleth in the court and defended the people of the greenwood against the doriathin born interloper (as the most popular rumours went), she became a legend and became 'the people's queen' as some of the court were calling her. Needless to say, there was very little opposition to her after that.

XXX

Their wedding followed a year's absence in Imladris for Erywen.

For a royal wedding, it was a rather small affair, taking place in the exact same clearing that Oropher and Meriliel had married some centuries earlier so the people of the Greenwood could see them (it seemed that most of the forest population had come out for the event, particularly the sylvan who were very proud that one of their own was marrying the king) but the foreign contingents were not nearly as big as had been for the previous royal wedding. In fact, the only contingent anything like as large as the home court, all who were virtually obliged to turn up, were what Losmeril named the 'Valinorian visitors'. Pretty much everyone that went into dream visions Valinor side had come to the wedding, though unless they had maia blood, they went disguised. After all, none of them were supposed to actually be able to leave Valinor.

Part way through the afternoon, Ingwë was able to sneak off with Losmeril for a bit of private snogging in a nearby clearing.

After some time they were just sitting together on a log, just enjoying each other's presence, for the first time actually together rather than in dream vision. After several moments, Ingwë cupped her face and looked at her, intense blue eyes soft.

"Not long now my love. Not long until we can be married." He looked down and took something out of his pocket and offered it to her. "So we can be married as soon as you get to Valinor."

Losmeril opened the box curiously and gasped as she saw two beautifully carved silver betrothal rings. The smaller of the pair had a diamond in it. Losmeril looked up at her beloved curiously as she slipped the beautiful ring on her finger.

"Lady Riona's suggestion. It is a tradition from her own land, the diamond symbolises eternity and thus our union. You will note her own betrothal ring also has a diamond in it." Losmeril smiled softly at him as she slipped the other ring on his finger.

"I like that idea." She said softly before kissing him deeply. "Now we are officially betrothed." Ingwë smiled at her, eyes glowing with happiness, then got back to kissing, determined to fit in as much as possible before they had to separate again.

It was maybe an hour after Erywen and Thranduil managed to sneak off to their bedroom that Elanon separated the pair to drag Ingwë back off to Valinor for a stern talking to about sneaking off to snog his niece. It wasn't until sometime later anyone noticed the silver rings.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Ingwë walked through the mausoleum-like mansion, a bounce in his step. Though the decor was bright and golden, and absolutely beautifully done, the entire house felt dead. In fact it much like its owners it that. Each of the three residents, though more the elder pair than their daughter, was stunningly beautiful but had the feel of life snuffed out in them. Ingwë had no doubt that had they been in Arda, that the Lord and Lady would have faded and gone to the Halls of Mandos long ago. Their daughter, he couldn't help wondering whether she would have been very different away from such depressing company for she still showed signs of life rather than merely existing.

He entered the music room to flute music. As the piece ended, he walked across the room to greet the pair sitting there. He lifted the elleth's hands with his own, pressing his lips to her knuckles, earning a giggle. He then turned to the older ellon sat beside her.

"Well met Laurealos. It is good to see you again." The blond rose and bowed to his king. He was about to speak when the lady let out a squeal. Ingwë hadn't notice she was still holding his hand and her fingers brushed the ring round his finger. Her father turned to her, surprise showing on his face, probably the most life he had shown in over an age.

"You're betrothed! You wear a ring!" She exclaimed. Laurealos turned to his king with shock evident.

"Brother..." He trailed off as Ingwë showed the elf he had considered to be his kin since the awakening of the elves the ring on his finger. Suddenly the elf grinned and yanked him into a rough hug. Eventually he released his king.

"So tell me, who is the lucky lady, when..." Ingwë laughed and began to fill his friends in on his love life. It was good to see them so full of life after so long as little more than somewhat hermit like automatons.

XXX

It had taken Thranduil (and thus anyone in the Greenwood) a while to notice that Losmeril was wearing a ring and predictably his response was to go ballistic.

"When did the tricky bastard give this to you? And was he ever planning on asking permission?" Losmeril looked at him, rather unimpressed.

"Thats what Uncle Elanon said too. Or so I heard anyway. Then someone bothered to tell him that Ingwë had already got grandfather's permission. Both of them actually since he can pretty much walk over Iauvor. He also asked Dinembor what Ada would have thought on the subject since Dinembor was practically his shadow for his entire life. Nana also gave her permission." Thranduil glared at her. He hated being outmanoeuvred.

Before he could go on any more, Erywen rose and kissed her husband rather thoroughly. Thranduil was totally distracted. Erywen winked at her sister in law as Losmeril sneaked out the room and Losmeril mouthed her thanks at the elleth.

XXX

"I swear that someone up there has it in for us you know." Ingwë smiled down at his beloved as more than one or two other people in the dream vision. Erywen tried to put on an affronted look.

"It's not like we were trying to prevent you from going to Valinor..." Losmeril Looked at the pair and rolled her eyes.

"No but barely a year into your union and you are already pregnant. You knew that I intended to sail and, unlike humans, you can choose whether you are fertile or not. You both know damn well that I wouldn't leave while you have children." Ingwë wrapped his arms round her from behind and kissed her cheek.

"I doubt it was deliberate my love." Losmeril sighed, knowing she was being unreasonable.

"I know, it just that I have been looking forward to marrying you in the near future and suddenly I can't go and it is going to be put off for at least another ten years. I know that isn't much in the grand scheme of things but I've been waiting to marry you for what seems like so long that even a decade or two seems forever." Erywen smiled at her softly, understanding where the half-maia was coming from.

"You do know that you don't have to stay, don't you? I can give birth without you." Losmeril looked at her and smiled wanly.

"I'm not going to leave you to give birth with no family around you. If I were already in Valinor, that would be one thing but leaving, knowing that you are about to have a child." Erywen smiled at her and Losmeril smiled back. "Believe me, I am delighted that you are going to have a child." The two hugged each other and then Losmeril led Erywen over to the group of females who started the obligatory talk about baby names and such like. The males took one look at the twittering females and went off into their own group to congratulate Thranduil on his virility.

XXX

The Greenwood elves greeted the news with as much enthusiasm as Thranduil's own family. The news that the child was going to be a boy delighted them even more as to the conservative views of the Greenwood elves, that meant an heir.

Erywen's pregnancy also resulted in the first visit of Elladan and Elrohir to the Greenwood as Celebrian had immediately decided to stay until after the birth, just as Erywen and Losmeril had decided to during her own pregnancy. Erywen was just beginning to show when the elleth and her two adolescent sons rode up to the palace.

While Celebrian was hugging the life out of Erywen and Losmeril, the twins looked around the new place with some curiosity. Thranduil greeted them and both blushed as they remembered their manners. In absolute unison the two bowed formally and offered greeting on behalf of their father and of Imladris.

Thranduil blinked out his surprise at the double act when he heard Celebrian laughing.

"You never realised how alike my sons were, did you?" Thranduil shook his head mutely. Losmeril rolled her eyes and bid them all inside.

As they walked through the passageway she covered a smile at the way the twins and the young elleth exchanged admiring looks. The twins were just past their majorities, though they still had a bit of growth in them, and like most young males of that age, they had recently discovered girls. The young ladies of the Greenwood apparently also found them attractive and the twins were both lapping up the attention while not overly subtly tracking the most attractive with their eyes.

XXX

He smiled as he floated around the morass of soul. For some reason he couldn't explain, he was happy. Eventually he asked some of the older souls in here what was going on. All the time he had been here he had not had anything like a strong feeling,

After a few souls, he found one who had the knowledge of what was going on. Apparently it was from when his soul bound family members, that is to say wife and blood relatives, felt extremely powerful emotions then he would feel them as well. The phenomenon was more powerful when several of them were feeling the same powerful emotions.

Absently he wondered what it was that was apparently making _everyone_ so very happy. Probably a wedding or a birth. He guess it was a birth since he vaguely remembered a slightly lesser spike of happiness a little while ago. Either way, it meant his family had just got bigger. A good thing in his mind.

The spirit smiled as well as a spirit could and felt a decent sized spark of his own happiness for the first time since his death.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

AN: If you translate Laurealos's name from quenya you'll probably have a good idea who my latest characters are. Just a hint there...


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

The assorted maia and elves watched interestedly as Ingwë guided a tall golden haired elleth into the room. Dinembor had no idea who the stunning lady was but he had no trouble identifying her as a Vanyarin elf. As he examined her face further he stared in shock as he realised she was blind. On closer inspection of her closed eyes, he could see a faded scar across both eyes and the bridge of the nose.

Dinembor rose (slightly painfully, his leg had never entirely recovered for the arrow wound) and took her free hand gently and kissed her knuckles.

"Well met my lady." He whispered, bowing to her, though he knew she couldn't see the motion. Ingwë smiled the sort of enigmatic smile that meant he knew something that no-one else knew. The older blond move the hand clutching his arm onto Dinembor's arm with a wink. The Vanyarin king was definitely up to something.

After Dinembor had guided the lady to a seat, he turned and looked at Ingwë, as were most of the people in the room.

"I think introductions are in order. The lady is Vanimallë, Lord Glorfindel's sister." More than one person was surprised at that and looked more closely at the lady. On closer inspection the resemblance was definitely visible. Vanimallë simply had a softer version of her brother's features. After a moment of silence while everyone tried to work out what to say, Vanimallë spoke up.

"You are wondering about my eyes?" He voice was far quieter than her brother's and though very soft it had a musical quality to it. The squire, for some reason got this impression she did not speak often. The silence in room grew more awkward as no-one quite wanted to answer that question.

"I lost them during the kinslaying. I accidently got caught up in the fighting when Glorfindel and I got separated in the vast confusion that was those kinslaying. Shortly after my eyes were injured by a stray blade I fell unconscious and was left for dead among the Telerin bodies. It is why I did not follow my brother to Arda, though I had wished to. Glorfindel didn't find out until he was returned to life about my injury. I get this impression he has not quite forgiven himself for not protecting me." Dinembor was sure he was not the only one shocked by the quiet, matter of fact tone in the way she spoke about one of the biggest horrors in elfin history.

Dinembor took the hand he had been guiding her with in his own far larger hand and squeezed slightly before kissing it again.

"You are most welcome here. May I ask if there is any particular reason you are visiting?" She smiled softly at him.

"Lord Ingwë speaks much of this household and its many characters when we meet together. I was curious so I asked for an introduction." Riona laughed softly from across the room.

"You'll fit in just fine if you decided to visit the mad house out of sheer curiosity." Vanimallë turned to face Riona and tilted her head curiously. Dinembor watched in fascination. Few elves communicated with expressions rather than words, and what silent language was use was usually conveyed through the eyes. It was fascinating to see how she managed to communicate via body language without having any eyes. "I dyed Manwë's hair green out of curiosity to see if I could get away with it. Doing things that the normal populace would consider rather insane out of sheer curiosity is a trait rather common round here."

"You didn't really dye Manwë's hair green?" Dinembor noticed she had remarkably expressive eyebrows, a trait up to that point he had considered unique to the house of Finwë, though he had to admit that Elrond did still have the monopoly on expressive eyebrows.

"Have you heard of Manwë's Misfortunes? If you haven't then you must be the only person in Valinor who hasn't." If she had eyes, Dinembor got this impression that Vanimallë would have been staring wide-eyed at Riona.

"That was you?" Riona shrugged.

"Manwë took my child from me." Vanimallë tilted her head to the side and considered that for a moment.

"Fair enough."

Very quickly the conversation was flowing between them, the other people in the room soon joining in. As Dinembor observed the way Vanimallë was quickly adopted into the extended family that was the maia household, he looked in the direction of Ingwë. The Vanya was sitting back, also observing the conversation with a pleased look. Dinembor hid a smile. Apparently there was more reason for bringing her here than her own desire to meet the strangest family in Valinor.

XXX

Less than a month before the pregnancy was over Elrond also turned up, mostly to return the favour of keeping Thranduil sane during the birth. Erestor had been left behind to look after Imladris. With him thought, was Glorfindel, who couldn't work out why Erywen, Celebrian and Losmeril kept looking at him with enigmatic expressions.

Eventually, when they were sat down in a private sitting room, Glorfindel asked what the hell was going on. Thranduil was, surprisingly, the one to answer first.

"You lot weren't involved in any dream visions since you left Imladris, were you?" Elrond and Glorfindel both shook their heads. "So you lot haven't met the latest member of Lady Riona's Court of Insanity?"

Glorfindel raised his eyes to the ceiling despairingly.

"Why do I suddenly have a very bad feeling about the cause of all those looks you ladies were giving me?" Losmeril grinned.

"Because Vanimallë is an absolute wellspring of your embarrassing baby stories?" The Vanya went utterly white and still at that statement.

"Vanimallë?" He whispered, hand flexing into a fist.

"Ingwë introduced her, apparently she was curious about the mad house. She fits in perfectly and I think she has actually moved in now, it is easier than making the journey every time she wants half cheerful company. Dinembor seems to have taken on the permanent duty of her guide. They are about the only two people who haven't worked out that he has fallen head over heels in love with her." Glorfindel continued to stare, white faced, at the three elleth. After a pregnant pause, Elrond butted in.

"As the only person here who apparent has no idea who Vanimallë is, would someone care to enlighten me?" Losmeril looked over at the peredhil.

"Oh, Glorfindel's sister. She got blinded during the first kinslaying when she got separated from Glorfindel in the crowd. Since then both her parents acted as if the world ended when she lost her eyes and since getting out of the halls of Mandos and thus finding out about this Glorfindel has blamed himself. Ingwë has been the only one to treat her like before she got injured and then recently introduced her to the mad house where the only difference in behaviour towards her is making sure she doesn't have any problem from not seeing." Elrond's eyes widened and he turned to his seneschal.

"You have a sister and somehow forgot to mention her?" The still pale elf glared at his lord. Erywen butted in before the golden lord snapped at Elrond.

"I think that we just covered the fact that Glorfindel has issues in that department. I think her prefers to beat himself up about it or try and forget than talk about her." She rolled her eyes as Glorfindel's expression confirmed what had been said. Before the conversation could go any further, there was a little gasp from Erywen who was curled up where she sat.

"Sorry stomach cramp, I've been getting waves of it for the last few hours. I didn't want to say anything though." Celebrian and Eama (who had been standing in the background) looked at each other before Celebrian put a hand over the sylvan elf's abdomen.

"That's not stomach cramp, dear, that's the early stages of labour." Celebrian said. The twins pinned Thranduil down (as per Elrond's orders) while the ladies escorted Erywen out of the room.

XXX

After a fairly easy, if long birth, Erywen gave birth to a healthy, dark haired baby boy. Thranduil named him Legolas. When the little baby opened his eyes, he revealed that he had his father's eyes and an apparent fascination with golden hair, happily laughing every time his father, aunt or Glorfindel picked him up. Even so, his favourite resting place was his mother's arms.

After holding him for a few moments, Losmeril looked up at Legolas's parents, who were both watching her hold the child with matching soft expressions.

"He is definitely worth waiting for." She said, voice slightly rough with emotion. Thranduil and Erywen both smiled at her as the baby gargled his agreement.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Ingwë was waiting for her at the docks, as were most of her family.

He smiled as he saw the ship sale in. Losmeril, or Airatari as she would now be called, was standing at the prow of the ship, red-blond hair flowing behind her as the ship skimmed across the harbour.

As soon as the ship was safely moored, Airatari was off the ship, not waiting for a gangplank to be lowered. As eager to see her as the other way round, Ingwë had walked up the peer and was able to catch her as she landed. Within seconds the pair were kissing enthusiastically. They only pulled apart when Daffyd coughed pointedly from beside them, his son by his elbow, glaring at the high king.

The elves unaware of their ability to communicate between Arda and Valinor were watching on in some surprise, wondering what was going in.

Ingwë slipped his arm around her waist and led her to the main dock area where the rest of the maia family was waiting with a large contingent from the house of Finwë as well as Laurealos, who had elected to come to support his king and close friend. Privately Ingwë suspected he was just being nosy and wanted to meet the lady who had caught his king's attention after all this time. The only elves that frequently appeared in dream visions who were not there to greet the half maia were Dinembor and Vanimallë who, by default of their injuries, were not really up to long distance travel.

Slightly out from the group were many more elves, watching in fascination. Being Vanyarin, Ingwë rarely visit Alqualondë – if the Telerin needed their high king they came to Valmar where both Ingwë and the Valar had their administrative centres. Very few elves knew of the dream visions and so the way that Ingwë greeted an elleth born in Arda and cleary long after the war of wrath was the subject of major gossip. The fact she was equally obviously the half sindar daughter of the maia family who were a legend within Valinor just added fuel to the metaphorical fire.

Under many watchful eyes, Ingwë walked towards the group waiting for Airatari. Very quickly the half maia was absorbed into the group as everyone had to hug her. After several moments of cheerful greeting, the larger crowd slit for another elf with a bearing nearly as regal and serene as Ingwë. The High King grinned at the sight of another unborn one whom he considered kin.

"Olwë! It is good to see you." The Telerin grinned at him.

"Well I could hardly miss your visit to my realm now, could I? Especially since you seem to have found someone to kiss..." Laurealos laughed, the first out of him Ingwë had heard in a very long time, and Airatari bounced up to him. Ingwë wrapped his arm round her waist and introduced her to the two elves she didn't know.

"Olwë, Laurealos, meet my betrothed, Airatari, formerly known as Losmeril, Princess of Greenwood the Great. Beloved, may I introduce Olwë, lord of Alqualondë and Laurealos, Lord of the House of the Golden flower – Lord Glorfindel's father." Airatari bobbed a slight curtsey as each bowed to her and kissed her hand. Out of the corner of his eye, Ingwë noticed their wider audience begin to whisper furiously after he described Airatari as his betrothed. The unofficial audience were not the only ones curious about that.

"Betrothed? One wonders how you achieved that considering that, by all rights, you should have only just met the lady." Ingwë grinned as Riona came to stand beside her great niece. She was the one that answered.

"You forget, or are possibly unaware, that I have a remarkable lack of regard on the subject of Manwë's edicts, especially the ones about communicating with Arda. I have been using dream vision to communicate with my loved ones in Arda since Manwë took my child from me. Ingwë has long been involved in those." A look of dawning crossed the ancient elf's face.

"I am guessing, then, that you are the infamous Lady Riona?" She grinned wickedly at him.

"Much to our Lord Vala's chagrin."

XXX

Several hours later (Olwë had insisted they stay for lunch at least since he rarely got to see his Vanyarin kin and wanted to get to know the elleth that had stolen Ingwë's heart) they got back to the now extended complex that was the House of Eönwë. Dinembor and Vanimallë were waiting on a bench near the entrance courtyard, waiting for them.

Much to everyone's surprise, Laurealos greeted his daughter by picking her up and swinging her round before dropping her into a hug.

"You haven't done that in millennia Ada." Vanimallë commented in surprise. The older blond elf grinned at her.

"I know, that's why I felt it overdue. That and I am in a remarkably good mood today." The Vanyarin elleth laughed happily and turned to the group who were watching in varying degrees of bemusement.

"So where is our soon to-be-queen?" She asked. She had barely finished talking when Airatari was hugging her. They had become very close via dream visions. Dinembor had been observing the interaction with amusement and when Airatari hugged the life out of the elleth he laughed outright. The laugh was her cue to stop hugging Vanimallë and hug Dinembor instead. The old squire returned the hug enthusiastically. If it hadn't been for his leg he would have spun her round like Laurealos had Vanimallë. She had always enjoyed that as a child.

That evening the housekeeper has arranged a feast for the huge party in celebration of Airatari's arrival and so after a while in the courtyard they went inside to the rarely used formal dining room.

XXX

The next day, Ingwë sent messengers out to the entirety of Valinor announcing his betrothal and up-coming marriage.

It quickly became clear that _everyone_ in Valinor wanted to see their soon-to-be queen. Neither elf nor half maia particularly wanted to do a tour of Valinor after their union so with a certain amount of quiet grumbling, they organised one for before they married.

Airatari sorted the problem of having to organise the wedding ceremony by turning to her female relatives and let them loose on the subject. They conferred with Laurealos and his wife for Vanyarin traditions, though Vanimallë and Dinembor were both in her escort for the tour so only input via dream visions.

XXX

Airatari quickly discovered that the Valinorian definition of 'city' was somewhat nominal at best. What were defined as cities were actually a collection of administrative buildings with trade centres around them where people could exchange goods. These 'centres' were surrounded by extended family estates, the high lords of the realms having estates further out where they could have vast sprawling gardens. The untitled elves, if they did not want to live on their family estates and help with the running or making items for trade, could align themselves with a lord and move into his estate where the elf would be fit in with whatever needed to be done on the estate and what their skills were. Those nobles, via the scholars they sponsored, organised schooling for any elf that was interested. It all worked surprisingly well.

It was inside the city centres that there was a parade through so the people could see their new queen. Inevitably those processions ended in the big plazas outside the administrative buildings and both Ingwë and Airatari had to make speeches.

By the end of the tour, she was exhausted and couldn't wait to get home.

Unfortunately for her, when she got home she found three unwanted guests sitting with her mother, grandparents and Riona. From behind her Dinembor, who was once again escorting Vanimallë, let out a quiet groan when he saw the guests. The noise was enough to alert everyone in the room to their presence. Arallë rose from her seat.

"Ah, you home. You, I think, are the only person who can solve our little debate." Airatari raised an eyebrow. "The lady believes she has a right to having a say in your wedding preparations." Airatari gave the lady in question a look up and down. She was obviously a sindar, though Airatari had never before seen an elf who actually managed to look shrewish. She had a thin face which was pulled into an expression of general disapproval that she had clearly been wearing for too long. Airatari took an immediate disliking to her.

"And who exactly is she that you didn't just kick her out the door for being so jumped up?" The elleth and her husband, who looked vaguely familiar, both gasped in shock. The assorted maia hid smiles and Dinembor, who had just sat down Vanimallë, barely concealed a wicked laugh.

"Your grandmother." Riona responded, smiling slightly. Airatari did not lower her eyebrow at all as she looked at her great aunt.

"And?" This time Dinembor did laugh out loud. The elleth sent him an acid look, as did her husband, who Airatari realised, must be Lord Iauvor. The third elf was probably Thingol of Doriath then. At Dinembor's laugh both halves of the couple turned to glare at the elf.

"Shut up you misbegotten, honourless cripple..." What else she planned to say was cut off by Airatari slapping her face.

"Get out!" She hissed. "Leave now. I disavow any relation to either of you. It is you who are misbegotten. Dinembor has more honour in an eyelash than you have total. You are both unworthy to be elves, you selfish, narrow minded little people." Both of them stared at her in absolute shock. Airatari looked up to see Eönwë standing behind her.

"I stand beside my niece. The House of Eönwë does not recognise any relation to Iauvor and Saeriar of the Sindarin people and they are never to lay foot on my lands again." Both elves gasped as they felt the magic enforcing that statement surround them. "My nephew will show you out."

Once the two were gone from the room, there was a little laugh out of the shadows and another lady stepped into the light.

"Well that was long overdue..." Airatari blinked a few times before realising that the new female was Melian, Thingol's wife. That pretty much confirmed who the remaining elf was. Airatari stared at the maia with some surprise. Since the two elves were technically related to her via marriage to Thingol, it was an interesting comment. She obvious saw the question in Airatari's expression. "Let's just say that I have never been very fond of either of them, though they do deserve each other."

Thingol snorted with laughter.

"That, love, is the biggest understatement I have ever heard." Melian smiled affectionately at him. Dinembor laughed softly. Airatari turned to look at the elf to see how he had taken the episode. It seemed as if he had not paid much attention to the attack (considering he had become Oropher squire when the elf had been a very small child, he'd probably got used to the two elves being like that), though it looked as if Vanimallë had comforted him as Airatari was yelling at her grandparents. The half maia suspected that Vanimallë comforting him had a lot to do with how well he was taking it.

The fact that both Melian and Thingol were against Iauvor and Saeriar meant they were welcome within the household, a fact that pleased both Arallë and Airatari since neither wanted to totally alienate Oropher's family.


End file.
